"Tech. Cars. Machines." podcasts and articles explore the influence of technology on industry.

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Tesla has masterfully used the extraordinary latitude it’s been afforded by investors and customers to disrupt the auto industry in many more ways that realize. We revisit our original Everybody Hates Tesla episodes of 2018.

Tesla has masterfully used the extraordinary latitude it’s been afforded by investors and customers to disrupt the auto industry in powertrains, the passenger cabin, dealership structure and supply strategy. This latitude is also potentially the Company’s biggest weakness, contributing to Groundhog Day execution problems and unnecessary “self-driving” claims. We revisit our original Everybody Hates Tesla episodes of 2018.

Can your AI make life-and-death decisions? Mercedes’ Drive Pilot can. Does your AI vendor take legal responsibility for those life-and-death decisions? Mercedes does. It’s the only certified Level 3 passenger car system in the world. Georges Massing, global head of the company’s automated driving and cabin technologies, tells us how.

The Future of Transportation with Reilly Brennan of Trucks VC: A dialogue with Reilly Brennan, author of the must-read Future of Transportation newsletter and partner at Trucks VC, returns to Tech Cars Machines on trends in financings, AI in autonomy and robotics, the promise of hydrogen combustion engines, and EV market, and much more.

China, EVs, vehicles that are too big and too heavy, autonomy, the future of transportation, and lessons from history. We cover hot news and trends in all these sectors with Marc Amblard, Partner at Orsay Consulting, the well-known San Francisco-based advisor in automotive technology. He is the author of the widely read Mobility Revolution monthly newsletter.

How do you start a new business in a large corporation and quickly scale it to hundreds of millions of revenues? Savi Baveja, President of 3D Printing and Chief Incubation Officer at HP, Inc. told me how. Focused on production, with established and emerging markets in auto parts (custom Porsche seats), personal medical devices and drones, Savi gave me an insightful view of the business and sector as only a Bain & Company veteran could.

Episode 39: Interested in a piece of a $400 billion pie from which Tesla once took a $465MM bite?  Chris Creed, Chief Investment Officer of the Department of Energy’s Loan Program’s Office spoke to me about how his piece of that pie is made available to innovators or scalers in renewable energy and energy infrastructure.  He works with Jigar Shah, Director of the LPO and co-founder of Sun Edison.  We got detailed on suitable projects, financial metrics and loan terms.   Recent LPO facilities include the subject of our Episode 33, the ACES Delta hydrogen storage program, the $2.2BN for Nevada’s Thacker Lithium Mine Lithium, and GM’s Ultium and Ford’s BlueOval battery efforts.

Episode 38: GE’s “fuels guy,” and current Global Hydrogen Value Chain Leader at GE Vernova, Dr. Jeffrey Goldmeer, shared his 23 years of experience and insight with me on energygeneration, energytransition, the electricgrid, and the role of hydrogen. 

I learned a lot from him, and so can you. He’s a natural teacher and host of the Cutting Carbon podcast.   We got technical in an accessible way about electric grid characteristics and the adjustments required by carbon-free sources. For hydrogen, 1,600 miles of existing pipeline and 50+ years of experience burning it as a fuel (100,000+ hours at one GE installation alone) and a vast ammonia transport network for fertilizers mean that infrastructure investments and subsidies are the gating factor more than technical breakthroughs.  

Episode 37: You get a billion💰! And you get a billion💰! And YOU get a billion💰! (repeat 4 more times).

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently committed $1 billion each to seven recipients to build regional hydrogen hubs. The auto and steel sectors, concentrated around Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois, are covered by the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen (MachH2). In Episode 37 of Tech. Cars. Machines, Neil Banwart, CFA, MachH2’s CIO, talked to me about how scale, not technology, will be how the hub demonstrates hydrogen’s economics. We discussed the activities of hub partners bp, Constellation, Invenergy, Air Liquide, and MachH2's commitment to economic inclusion.

Cars that drive themselves not enough for you? How about #trucks? 80,000-pound trucks. Flying down the #highway.
Peter Vaughan Schmidt, CEO of @torcrobotics, an independent autonomy holding of @DaimlerTruck, talked with me about his “no hobbies” focus on long-haul, big-truck applications. From “no hobbies”, to scalable commercial deployment in 2027, and “no limits” afterward!

Cars that drive themselves not enough for you? How about when they do it at 192 MPH? Head-to-head on a racetrack. With no remote intervention. In total darkness.
Paul Mitchell, Chairman and President of Indy Autonomous Challenge, and I talk at the Las Vegas International Speedway. He tells me how this is possible, what it means for all of us, and what's next.

The ACES Delta Hub, a utility-scale energy storage project based in Utah, uses hydrogen to store electric energy for months. The infrastructure developed for this project may, with incremental investment, make hydrogen transportation more viable.

Atif Askar is the head of Business Development, Strategy and Mergers & Acquisitions for Traton, one of the world’s largest producers of medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles. Traton is controlled by the Volkswagen Group. Why are battery-powered commercial vehicles almost always the most appropriate form of sustainable vehicles, and why is hydrogen fuel likely not necessary? What are the associated challenges and timelines? Atif explains Traton’s approach to meeting the challenge of climate change.
You can find a transcript and web player here.

Listen to Jan Krönig, who is the head of Strategy & Corporate Development for Daimler Truck—the world’s largest producer of medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles. When are battery-powered vehicles most appropriate, and when is the answer hydrogen fuels? What are the challenges and timelines associated with each? Jan explains Daimler’s approach to meeting the challenge of climate change.

You can find a transcript and web player here.

Listen to Maryam Rofougaran, co-founder of Movandi, discuss how the Company’s suite of silicon and software solutions will accelerate the promise of 5G mmWave networks. Maryam provides an overview of Movandi, as well as of her time at Broadcom, which came about from the acquisition by Broadcom of Maryam’s first startup, Innovent. Maryam’s career has been about leading engineering teams whose products have usually had the largest global market share for the integration of myriad wireless technologies in mobile form factors.
You can find a transcript and web player here.

Listen to Jon Gordon, Co-founder of Universal Hydrogen, discuss how the Company intends to make a flexible and economical carbon-free future possible in the world of aviation. Jon provides an overview of Universal Hydrogen and very nicely creates a “visual” (in audio) of the Universal Hydrogen solution, which involves capsules and manageable retrofits of turbo-prop aircraft. Jon describes how, compared to typical venture investments, a longer horizon is necessary for UH2’s endeavors.
Learn more about Universal Hydrogen and John. More about GTK, your host Ali Tabibian, our conferences, publications and subscriptions thereto. If links aren’t active in your app, please go to www.gtkpartners.com.
A raw transcript is here.

Listen to Amy Davis, President of the New Power Segment of Cummins, Inc. a $20 billion engine manufacturer discuss the path this revered manufacturer is taking to remain at the forefront of providing the best powertrains and power sources for commercial transportation. Amy provides an overview of Cummins and her career within the company. She provides a broad and detailed survey of alternative powertrain technologies such as electric and hydrogen-based, discusses where applications are likely to emerge first, and the large, complex issues that need to be resolved.

Learn more about Cummins and Amy. More about GTK, your host Ali Tabibian, our conferences, publications and subscriptions thereto. If links aren’t active in your app, please go to www.gtkpartners.com.

The audio and a raw transcript is here.

A discussion at The Capital Factory in Austin regarding the role of new technologies and startup innovation in defense. You can find the audio and transcript here.

Prith Banerjee, Chief Technology Officer of $25 billion software simulation firm ANSYS, discusses the benefits of applying physics-based simulation with machine learning techniques. Prith describes how his career in IoT has convinced him that ANSYS is the right platform to influence asset performance management, predictive analytics, digital twins, and real-time product design feedback. These advances reduce product development cost, improve quality, improve service margins, and will significantly change workflows. An audio and transcript is here. For Apple Podcasts, click here.

Reilly Brennan, General Partner of Trucks VC, and early and prescient investor in the field of transportations, discusses life, his investments and trends. Listen or read a transcript here.

Listen to A. Charles Thomas, PhD., Chief Data & Analytics Officer of General Motors discuss how data analytics are influencing every part of GM. Charles describes his objectives, processes and success metrics for bringing a “data centric” approach to the ogranizations where he has led data analytics, including GM, Wells Fargo and USAA Insurance. Audio and a raw transcript is here.

CES was kind enough to reach out to us, suggest we record an episode from the floor of the 2019 CES show, and offer us studio space.
Hear our reflections on CES as an event, as an auto show, and as a consumer electronics show. We chatted with the CEO/Founder of May Mobility (autonomous shuttles) and the VP of Strategy for NovuMind (AI chip). A player and transcript is here.

Mamatha Chamarthi, Chief Digital Officer of $40 billion Tier 1 auto supplier ZF Group of Germany, discusses her approach to infusing ZF with digital innovation, and the influence of autonomy, connectivity, electrification and sharing. Listen or read a transcript here.

Swamy Kotagiri, Chief Technology Officer and also the President of the Power & Vision Division of $40 billion Tier 1 auto supplier Magna, discusses the future of transportation and the influence of autonomy, connectivity, electrification and sharing. Listen or read a transcript here.

EV adoption will threaten automotive profit distribution sooner than expected and much sooner than unit volumes would imply. Tesla has brought about this and many other large but less-noticed changes & threats. The Company has been afforded unprecedented (and sometimes counterproductive) latitude by customers, investors & the media. Listen or read a transcript here.

Alyia Green, Chief Information Officer of Chevron's exploration business, describes the interaction of IT and Operational Technology and the practical solutions derived from today’s Big Data and artificial intelligence technologies. Listen or read a transcript here.

Behrooz Abdi, Chief Executive Officer of **TDK InvenSense**, describes why decades of innovation remain in MEMS sensors. Behrooz describes why the acquisition of public company InvenSense by TDK was the right decision from a technology and manufacturing perspective. Listen or read a transcript here.

Bill Ruh, Chief Executive Officer and founding executive of GE Digital, describes the genesis, product portfolio and lessons learned in establishing the leader in the industrial Internet of Things. Listen or read a transcript here.

Eddie Amos, Chief Technical Officer of **GE Digital**, explains the rationale for GE Digital's acquisition of Meridium. He describes how Asset Performance Management and other technologies allow customers to digitize their operations and optimize maintenance. Listen or readh a transcript here.

Mark Farrell, the Mayor of San Francisco, explains why he organized a meeting with autonomous vehicle companies such as Zoox and GM Cruise, and municipal first responders. How do municipalities view ride sharing, autonomy, and electric scooters and bikes? Listen or read a transcript here.

**Y Combinator** 2018 Winter Event graduates Mike and Jack Ross, co-founders of Beanstalk, describe the role of LED lighting and 3D printing robotics in indoor farming. Listen or read a transcript here.

**Y Combinator** 2018 Winter Event graduates Igino Cafiero and Aubrey Donnellan, co-founders of Bear Flag Robotics, describe their approach to automating tractors that service orchards and other GPS-denied and organic environments. Listen or read a transcript here.

William Santana Li, Founder and CEO of **Knightscope**, and a Ford Motor Company veteran, describe how he’s raised $40MM without venture capital to build the leading autonomous security robot company. Listen or read a transcript here.

Chuhee Lee, Vice President of Technology and Strategy, Volkswagen Group of America's Electronic Research Laboratory, explains how his team's research influences the user experience in the 11 million vehicles that VW Group sells every year. Listen or read a transcript here.