DATA IS THE NEW OIL mobility provider already well underway , Brecht has already made clear the importance of using data to fuel services such as car sharing . But how far will the shift go ? Can Brecht imagine a driverless world where nobody owns a vehicle ?
“ I can imagine this , yes ,” he answers . “ Do I think it will come anytime soon ? Probably not . I don ’ t think there has been a more difficult time to predict the future than today . It will certainly go in that direction . How far and fast I don ’ t think anybody can say right now .” According to Brecht , three barriers stand in the way of this becoming a reality . There are certainly some technical hurdles to overcome , although Brecht believes the legal obstacle may take longer to solve . Puzzling questions remain , such as who or what takes responsibility for a vehicle ’ s actions , and whether some countries will be quicker to update statute than others .
“ The most difficult level of the challenge , however , is ethical ,” Brecht states . This is especially the case when considering whether a human or a machine is responsible for certain decision making that could , ultimately , impact lives on the road . Human errors in judgement that lead to serious incidents are , of course , tragic accidents . However , the picture becomes far more complex when it is a piece of software that has to make a life-changing call .
While for Brecht and Daimler a fully autonomous world of transport may be a long way off yet , the journey towards making data the lifeblood , or oil , of the company will continue to gather momentum .
Asked what we can expect to see in five years , the CIO concludes : “ In hopefully less than five years ’ time we will recognise that data is the most important asset of the company , and something we can monetise . Analysing this data is great , but shared and mobility services can generate profit streams from connected cars . I am confident that we will see this happen very soon , sooner than five years .”
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