Winners Develop the Play
The stock market is churning, a barrage of winter storms is wreaking havoc on parts of our nation, and our U.S. Congress appears to be in a permanent state of discord. If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed today, we have an antidote: Walter Bond, former NBA player and motivational speaker extraordinaire!
In his second column for FMW, Developing a Winner’s Mindset, Walter defines a winner this way: “Winners develop the play. They strategize and execute on the strategy. They look for daily opportunities. They surround themselves with positive people and listen to positive things. You can’t believe the best when there is negativity all around you.”
And in today’s Fleet Marketing column, Ed Pierce delivers some smart insights on the importance of taking control of marketing costs, including how to go about measuring effectiveness.
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief
CA Governor Sets Goal of 5 Million EVs by 2030
California currently has 350,000 electric cars on the road today, which is far more than any other state. Gov. Jerry Brown wants to put 5 million electric cars on the state’s roads by 2030.
Brown is proposing to meet the new electric car target with a $2.5-billion investment during the next eight years to continue state subsides for car purchases and bring 250,000 vehicle charging stations and 200 hydrogen fueling stations to California by 2025.
"The goal is to make our neighborhoods and farms healthier, our vehicles cleaner -- zero emission the sooner the better -- and all our technologies increasingly lowering their carbon output," Brown said in his Thursday State of the State speech.
Read the article at Los Angeles Times.
What Tesla’s Autopilot Can’t See
A growing body of evidence shows that semi-autonomous systems are lulling drivers into a false sense of security. They zone out, look away, even fall asleep.
Automakers anticipated such problems, and have tried to respond with systems that keep drivers focused and aware of their responsibilities, even when their hands are off the wheel and feet are nowhere near the pedals.
Over the weekend, a driver in another Tesla Model S sedan was arrested and charged with a DUI when he was found passed out behind the wheel on San Francisco's Bay Bridge. His blood alcohol content was two times the legal limit. He told the California Highway Patrol officers it was OK: The car was on autopilot.
Read the article at Wired.
Robot-Driven Vehicle Accused of ‘Negligent Driving’ After Crash
A California motorcyclist has filed a lawsuit against General Motors, accusing one of the manufacturer’s robot-operated vehicles of “negligent driving.”
Nilsson’s suit is one of the first involving an autonomous vehicle, raising questions and concerns about responsibility and restitution.
A San Francisco Police Department report, however, puts the blame on Nilsson. According to the report, Nilsson tried to pass a vehicle before it was safe.
Read the article at The Washington Post.
Acquired Companies Create New Ford Mobility X Team
Ford is acquiring two companies, Autonomic, a Silicon Valley-based self-driving start-up and TransLoc, a transit-technology company out of Durham, North Carolina, that develops city-owned microtransit systems.
This acquisition creates a new Ford X team, dedicated to experimenting with new business models for mobility, including the cloud platform.
The team is designed to be forward-thinking, and not every idea will reach the market. The idea is to “protect the incubation group from running mature businesses,” Ford’s president of mobility Marcy Klevorn said on a conference call Thursday.
