Name: Mary Barra on autonomous cars
Uploaded: 2014-10-08
Duration: 3 min 36 s
Description: GM's CEO talks to Fortune’s Managing Editor Alan Murray about the development of cars that drive themselves.

Are we really on a journey to autonomous driving? What does it mean, and why do we want to go there? Well I, I definitely think we are because I think when you look at the technology, and especially if you look at the mega trends across the globe of people are moving into more urban communities. when you also look at the congestion that exists today, whether you're in China or in Europe or North America. That's technology that can add real value to the customer. And not to say that you're still not gonna get excited about having to drive your vehicle, but we've all been in, you know, bumper to bumper traffic, that we wished would improve or we wished that we could multi- task. I think, you know, we're on a journey to do that. I think one of the- So, so congestion. It helps in congestion because you can drive closer together, because you can multi- task? What's the- Yes and yes. Both. Yes, yeah. So you get more cars on the road- Right, more cars. More efficiently to where they're going. That's right, exactly. And you can do other things while you're doing it. Absolutely, and so but I also think one of the big things for me, just think about it the next time in your car, how comfortable would you feel if you had to, to take your hands off the wheel. Not very. And so, I think it's a journey we're on and so that's why it will be step by step. With some of the technologies, we're having vehicles today that we're putting in to get the consumer comfortable with that and understand the value, understand the [ CROSSTALK ] Ultimately it's a plus for safety, or it should be shouldn't it? Oh, absolutely, if done well. And, that's what we're working on. And you say it's a journey we're on, is a journey that we will get to some sort of a destination? The nation in your term as CEO. Gonna drive this change and we have a roadmap that takes us through several years and you know we're busy implementing it. So, within your term as CEO? You know, um I, I, the board makes that call I'm just doing my job everyday. And, and the connected car, I mean, new cars now are almost, they're incredibly complex entertainment systems in some ways. Mm- hm. How are you thinking about that? Because that obviously can have an adverse affect on safety. Right, and that's why, to me, anything, especially that we put into the **** pit where the driver is, has to be done well from an intuitive, reducing driver distraction. And so we look at everything we do from that perspective. But then you know I think it's so much farther than, you know, I'll say the, the entertainment piece about it, when you have that connectivity. I was talking to someone back stage who just presented about you know Big Data and how we can mine data from the car. To again it's all about creating value for the customer to if we can tell you something is going to wear out or if we can tell you you know as you're making your drive how to make that more efficient those are all things that I think are, are coming and, and you know very generally I'll, I'll share that we're working on. In using the data, using the connectivity, so much farther than streaming, video's to the back seat, are important. But, it's much more than that, of what we can do, from marrying not only the entertainment piece, but the data we can get from the car itself. Key issue there though is making sure you do it correctly, from a privacy perspective. And do it right from a cybers perspective. And so those all have gotta be done well for this to be something that I think is here, is with us ten years from now. I believe it will be. Will GM be a pioneer in that area? Well, I think we already have made announcements of what we're gonna do in two years. Calendar year 16 on, on two of our upcoming Cadillacs, with having the first vehicle that has V to V, vehicle to vehicle capability to interface. And then also a product that we call Super Cruise. It lets you take your hands off the wheel.

GM's CEO talks to Fortune’s Managing Editor Alan Murray about the development of cars that drive themselves.