Christopher Columbus and evaluating autonomous vehicles as an investor
In recent times, the news surrounding Autonomous Vehicles has been quite active. Examples include Amazon AMZN acquiring Zoox for over a billion dollars, Mercedes and BMW joining forces to develop AV technology, Mercedes and BMW breaking up, Mercedes choosing another partner with Nvidia NVDA, VW and Ford partnering to invest in Argo and many more. The situation is often described as a race. Waymo was well ahead, but now everyone has caught up. Mercedes is well behind and is now desperate to catch up. There is even quantification in the form of investment levels to make it all official. The race paradigm certainly provides drama and urgency. However, is it really the right paradigm?