Who will win the race for the autonomous car? The car manufacturers multiply in any case the alliances, to give themselves the best chance of one day reaching the finish line. Thursday, Toyota unveiled the creation of a joint venture with SoftBank to develop his “e-pallet”, a sort of wagon capable of making deliveries without a driver. The day before, it’s Honda announcing that it has invested 2.75 billion dollars (2.5 billion euros) in Cruise, the subsidiary of General Motors dedicated to the autonomous vehicle. “Strong partnerships will be key to reducing up-front costs,” UBS analysts said in a note on the subject on May 8.
Huge sums
Car manufacturers can not be absent from the competition. Even if the car without driver everywhere, and under all circumstances, is not really for tomorrow, they will have to master the subject quickly enough. Because autonomous driving could become commonplace within two or three years in certain adapted environments, such as highways.
“But it requires know-how in technical areas that manufacturers do not control at all: software, data fusion and analysis, video processing, and so on. explains Sebastien Amichi, executive director of Accenture Strategy. They have almost all integrated ecosystems that allow them to access these technologies, including actors such as cities, concerned by their use for their transport systems. “
Staying in the race requires huge sums: this year alone, AlixPartners estimates that $ 56 billion will be invested in the project. This involves multiplying the tests, in real conditions but also on simulator, to gain sufficient experience to reduce the risk of accidents. An area in which Waymo, the dedicated subsidiary of Alphabet (Google) took, according to all the experts, a considerable advance.
A platform with Intel and Mobileye
“We do not want to be the first, we especially want our technology to be the safest,” insisted Didier Leroy, Toyota’s number two, at the Paris Motor Show. Already associated in consortium At NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson and Intel, the Japanese giant announced at the end of August a $ 500 million investment in Uber’s capital, two and a half months after injecting $ 1 billion into that of Uber’s competitor Grab. South East Asia.
Considered the most advanced in the field with its subsidiary Cruise, bought in March 2016 for $ 1 billion, General Motors continues to welcome partners and their billions with open arms: besides Honda and its 2.75 billion, the American manufacturer already had announced in June the entry of SoftBank at the round of Cruise , for 2.25 billion dollars. Ford has joined Lyft , another competitor of Uber across the Atlantic (of which GM is also a shareholder).
In Europe, Daimler has partnered with Bosch, while BMW has created a platform in 2016 with Intel and Mobileye. Since then, it has hired Fiat Chrysler as well as Continental and Delphi, and hope that others will join it. In France, manufacturers have not entered into partnerships with high-tech players. Relying also on the Alliance that it forms with Nissan and Mitsubishi, Renault works with the CEA or the CNRS, and leads in particular tests in Rouen in cooperation with Transdev, while PSA has chosen to ally itself with start-up, like nuTonomy .
The French deputies relaxed on October 2 the legislative framework of tests on open road, within the Pact law.