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What is revealing is that a former office furniture CEO from sleepy West Michigan is apparently much more hip on Silicon Valley technology than the whole of Ford. This is how entire industries get disintermediated.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know any serious business that embraces 'breaking things' when a bit more effort and time ensures that nothing gets broken.
"move fast and break things" is not suppose to be taken literally, it's tongue in cheek. It means, "while you move fast, you can make mistakes, break things, learn from those mistakes, correct and deliver faster." This is more understandable in software which is more disposable, but the same concept can still apply in other industries. It applies more in the research phase before development of the actual product.
Really, the only branch of industry where this kind of attitude makes sense is infotainment. Everywhere else - when there is money by paying customers on the line - it is as good as handing your customers to the competition.
This article makes Google look really bad.
Google had the pick of the litter between all the top car companies. Ford just thought they were way farther ahead than they were, the 'leak' to the press certainly didn't help, and were too focused on making a deal to impress Wall St instead of treating it like a collaborative tech project, which clashed with Google.
Ford's business development totally failed because they didn't understand the 'customer', what Google wanted out of the deal.
From the perspective that Google was feeling out the top automotive companies, while Ford acted like they already made the biggest deal in the self-driving car industry - when they really hadn't, they don't seem too bad to me at all.
Even if it had worked out, a deal with Waymo would not have been a "serious plan". This deal only amounted to throwing money at a hype factory in order to gain credibility in an imaginary market. Waymo hasn't proven it's even on track to create a workable product in the next decade. Google in particular has a proven track record of having a very short attention span. They won't make a good partner in the long run, no matter what. Carmakers like Ford would be a lot better off playing the long game on this, focusing on building out practical semi-automated safety features in the proven iterative manner they know, and growing their own expertise in self-driving engineering in-house.
"At the time, none of the major automakers had spelled out a serious plan for getting fully self-driving cars on the road." Even if it had worked out, a deal with Waymo would not have been a "serious plan". This deal only amounted to throwing money at a hype factory in order to gain credibility in an imaginary market. Waymo hasn't proven it's even on track to create a workable product in the next decade. Google in pa…
"At the time, none of the major automakers had spelled out a serious plan for getting fully self-driving cars on the road." Even if it had worked out, a deal with Waymo would not have been a "serious plan". This deal only amounted to throwing money at a hype factory in order to gain credibility in an imaginary market. Waymo hasn't proven it's even on track to create a workable product in the next decade. Google in pa…
Google have been doing this for longer than anyone else and have logged an order of magnitude more miles (cf. all their competitors combined). They also have by far and away the most accurate/reliable technology as evidenced by their dis/engagement stats. They are years ahead of everyone else. As a separate company they would be valued at ~$70 billion- with huge upside
That alone makes google a risky partner for any serious automaker - they're better of as a partner to a leasing agency than a seller.
"At the time, none of the major automakers had spelled out a serious plan for getting fully self-driving cars on the road." Even if it had worked out, a deal with Waymo would not have been a "serious plan". This deal only amounted to throwing money at a hype factory in order to gain credibility in an imaginary market. Waymo hasn't proven it's even on track to create a workable product in the next decade. Google in pa…