As the end of a car driven CES why Detroit still matter?

As the end of a car driven CES why Detroit still matter? ,

with an intensely focused automotive CES 2016 draws to a close, the show cars are being polished and prepared for the International north American Auto Show (NAIAS) opens the week next to Detroit. After two trade shows that seemed to disagree - CES ascending, declining NAIAS - the shows seem to have turned into a double blow driving home the same message :. The cars will not disappear

This does not mean that CES and Detroit are in perfect harmony, and dissonance, we find a host of issues to address in the coming years. Who is who will own cars, which lead them, and we pay for them? Is Uber regain the global auto industry? Apple will seriously make a car? Is Ford becoming a supplier for Google?

There are signs that the deep gap between the traditional automotive business and startup culture has recently begun to erode. In metaphorical terms, 2016 could be the year when Detroit and Silicon Valley converge. "Car companies have all understood that if all they are good at is folding plate and drive trains, which is obviously the lion's share of what it took to build a car for the last century "said Steve Eglash, the Executive Director of the artificial intelligence laboratory at Stanford and SAIL-Toyota Center for research AI." If that continues to be their basic skills, they will be at the lower end of the bottom the margin of the food chain. They understood that in addition to bending of the driving of sheet and construction trains, they need to be really good software and sensors and artificial intelligence. It is a kind of convergence of information technology with the traditional automotive industry. "

Many factors propel this climate of collaboration. The automotive industry is back -. and that's a lot of money Right now, Americans buy many cars in 2015, a record 17.5 million of them were sold in the US and the benefits mean that.. these car companies, made leaner by the 2008 crisis, will continue to have more resources to invest in growth pillars of this investment are rooted in R & D. - making cars that can meet future environmental regulations stricter, cars that are connected, and soon, the cars will behave. and that's where the connection comes in Silicon Valley :. resources from leading industries and auto showroom are poured into research common solutions for the future of transport

"There has been much discussion of Silicon Valley against Detroit and I do not see this way. "

" Silicon Valley may be one of the few places in the world which is especially good for innovation and iT and artificial intelligence, but it is not like Silicon Valley has a monopoly on smart engineers, "said Eglash. "As some of these advanced technologies are becoming a bit more mainstream, I think you'll see a lot more software engineers and computer scientists in Detroit do a lot of R & D too. You are mistaken if you just apply the new technologies to industry such as automotive heritage. how you get is just you bring together engineers and scientists and business people who understand the automotive industry from GM, Ford, and so on with computer. Google and other companies have done in part by hiring people of Detroit. " In fact, many former Detroit car executives have found a second life in Silicon Valley, as a former Ford engineer and CEO Hyundai America John Krafcik, head of Google self driving program.

New concerns motivated the collaborative change. Despite the rinse time, the recession of 2008 and the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies rocked the automotive industry to the core. A healthier economy of the United States, low interest rates and cheap price of gas have contributed to the recent rise in sales. But there is a sense that these conditions will not last - and the traditional auto industry must change if it wants to maintain

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The evolution of thought is particularly evident on the ground in Detroit, the symbolic capital of the automotive industry. "There has been much discussion of Silicon Valley against Detroit and I do not see it that way at all," said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at Autotrader. "What we see is - in Detroit, German companies and Nissan - everyone is setting up research facilities in Silicon Valley You see Apple and Google here in Detroit is more of a bridge that goes back and forth ... "

At CES, Ford's PR push his background included early support TechStars Mobility, one of the many efforts . local to stimulate the Detroit motor economy TechStars, a startup accelerator, launched its mobility initiative last year and begins its second round of funding to attract businesses focused on transport in Detroit, Honda and Verizon also contribute to the program "Mobility TechStars operates greatest strengths of Detroit. -. His domination of the automobile and its corporate resurgence We are at the intersection of these two trends, "said Ted Serbinski, general manager of the incubator. "There has been much talk of Detroit against Silicon Valley. It is Detroit, most Silicon Valley. We begin to see a lot more collaboration. We have over 300 mentors participating in the program Chrysler, GM, Penske, Volvo, BMW. We have seen that Detroit still has this critical mass of automotive expertise. Detroit still has that experience on manufacturing, construction and operation of vehicles. I do not know what Ford and Google can advertise, but it ties in Silicon Valley and Detroit mentality, "he said, referring to recent rumors that Ford may be a partnership with Google to build self-driving cars.

Bill Coughlin, CEO of the global division of Ford technology, was one of the players who helped woo TechStars in Detroit. "This is the Motor City and even the capital of the industry. The industry is constantly changing, we want to ensure that this is where the best talent in the world will want to come and develop the solutions we we all need, "he said.

other car companies with large presences Detroit also use CES to show the investments in new business strategies. GM chose the Las Vegas show to begin his everyman Chevy Bolt electrified and announce its partnership with $ 500 million Lyft Silicon Valley, for example.

"It is Detroit, most Silicon Valley. We are starting to see a lot more collaboration "

Nissan, a global company with US headquarters in Nashville, supports the center of society in the suburbs of Detroit Farmington Hills R & D -. But also has a research center in Silicon Valley. "It's to keep your finger on the pulse of multiple domains. with the fuel economy of challenges and issues, the side of the powertrain is really growing. Meanwhile, in the connected world, it is a star that explodes in all directions. Mechanical is no less important. you have to design the regulations. it adds more people to the equation, "said Chris Reed, . Vice President at Nissan technical Center North America

There are not the manufacturers themselves, suppliers like Delphi, Lear, and Roush, which builds self-driving prototypes Google, whose headquarters are in Michigan. German giant Bosch also has a significant presence in the region. "For Bosch, the connection between the city and Silicon Valley Motor has already been done," said Mike Mansuetti, president of the US subsidiary of Bosch. "We think we have the best of both worlds The speed, agility and customer focus of Silicon Valley is completed -. And did better. - The high-tech innovation and manufacturing know-how that the automotive industry has long demonstrated, "he said," We have several teams that collaborate in this effort, including teams in Palo Alto Abstatt and Germany working together with colleagues based in Michigan. "

The push-pull Detroit relationship with the valley creates opportunities elsewhere , too: with Gigafactory Tesla Future Faraday said he will soon build its cars in Nevada, for example. "This is what lead the types of people and places that we all are based. This is a change outside traditional places such as Detroit or Stuttgart. The companies set up new locations where the types of people we we need and the environment and cultures reflect a different kind of lifestyle. "

in the more distant future, moving forward means not only a change in geography, but a change in the way whose industries are classified. One day there may be no division between the automobile and technology. "I see there are all kinds of blurring of traditional boundaries of the industry," said Eglash. "Google is a car company. Could Microsoft or Twitter or Facebook or Amazon to become a car company in the future? Ford or GM could become a social network of information technology company? We see these fuzzy boundaries ".