So if I were to think about transportation technology and was asked what would be the ultimate vehicle to me I would definitely say a vehicle that could take me anywhere at any time. Basically the freedom to go where I want, or where I need to be is fairly important. For a car manufacture the answer would be whatever makes them the most money. Henry Ford knew who his customers were, everyday people which included even the people that worked in his factory. He wasn't going to sell them cars if they worked tirelessly and never had any time to buy things.
Large companies today are large. Small companies can come and go but rarely ever compete with the big dogs. The motivation is always to make money. Maybe they realize their purpose to fulfill a need and capitalize on it. Few go into business to give away what little they have. For some big business the realization for the best payday comes from doing business with other large business. For a company to sell products and services to individuals like you and me they would need to sell in high enough volume to make it worth it. That is why you don't see too many new car companies in the US because they would need to start with high enough volume to not have the competition put you out of business and that is not an easy feat to accomplish. If one of the big US car companies decided to stop making cars because it was more profitable to manufacture refrigerators we probably be left with a car shortage eventually unless someone decided to fill the gap. Consider that if one car company decided it wasn't profitable others would follow threatening a major factor in our way of living.
CES stand for Consumer Electronic Show which is a yearly Las Vegas convention ran by the Consumer Technology Association. The "consumer" I would think should be the little guy like me. CES 2021 showed car companies that may be investing more in development of commercial transportation of goods instead of private personal transport. There may be a more fundamental shift in transportation to get goods and services to you, not you to your destination. We already foresee this with online shopping and we easily can have anything delivered to our house. But there are issues with the the supply chain and lag time from initial purchase to usage of that product. If I needed a camera to take a picture and I didn't have a camera, I could go to a store, buy a camera and use it as soon as I walked out of the store. I buy a camera from Amazon I have to wait at least a day before I can use it, more if its not in stock at the local distribution point. We accept the delay and try to plan ahead.
Sure, as electric cars are becoming the car to buy and the dinosaur guzzling combustion engine dinosaurs are slowly getting replaced, we will still have vehicles to drive. But we are in for an era of fundamental change. The only way for new electric car technology to be developed and marketed was for a company like Tesla to go in all the way just to compete for the same customer as the other car giants even though they were creating a new product category. Ford is stopping all production of cars to focus on trucks accept for Mustang, which kind of looks like an SUV now. Now other companies are struggling to develop and retool to compete in this new category. Some companies just waiting until they have no other choice.
CES 2021 showed car tech. they did show off some new EVs and other gadgetry for your travels but...
- Caterpillar showed off a 285 ton, earth moving, mining dump truck that was autonomous.
- John Deer showed off VR to see from inside a tractors cab from a remote location.
- GM showed an electric pallet that can handle 200 lbs. to be used in shipping or to move goods around a warehouse. Could this be used with autonomous technology to load from a warehouse on to a truck or even unload a delivery to a residence or business?
- GM is also working on electric vertical take off and landing vehicle (EVTOL). Essentially a personal transportation drone. But the pictures shown don't convince me its not better suited to an autonomous package delivery courier.