Schockmel: CLEPA Members Ready For Autonomous Opportunities


Amid the glitz and glamour of the 2015 Geneva Auto Show, European auto supplier group CLEPA proclaimed its members would have a part to play in the autonomous game.
According to Just-Auto, group CEO Paul Schockmel said that the move toward autonomous driving was gaining steam, and that suppliers would be a huge part of the movement:
This is the story which is not only changing cars, but the entire automotive industry and [is] a societal change. I am very much focussing on this because I feel for our members, we have to follow this very strongly and we see huge business opportunities. There will also be challenges with new players coming in – I see this in a positive way because there are opportunities.
Already, Volvo is experimenting with autonomous technology through a plan to introduce 100 vehicles so-equipped to its home city of Gothenburg, Sweden in 2017. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom government approved measures to allow driverless testing on public roads, providing funding for tests in Greenwich, Bristol, Milton Keynes and Coventry. The government also is developing certification standards for autonomous vehicles.
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Still waiting for the skeptics to redefine the standard of "real" autonomous car so that they won't be wrong soon. Unsurprisingly, the amount of "never" happens has been reduced to near zero. Will we ever see any concessions of defeat?
Eventually some hacker is going to reprogram a vehicle to apply full throttle when it senses a pedestrian less than 10 feet away. That will put the whole kibosh on this autonomous driving nonsense.