Business: One Man's Opinion

Putting Google aside for a moment, the motivation of every other company is simple.   Survival . It’s a long answer but hang in, there is really a very simple reason why the tech is the same and why they are all working independently on it. Before Google started putting in real money and real talent, fully automated Self Drive Vehicles (“faSDVs”) were something that would exist in the far distant future. A time far past the retirement of any executive in the automotive, taxi or rent a car business. Google understood technology improvement curves and the first mover advantage. Technology improves exponentially, tech costs decline exponentially and the company that makes a particular subset of tech work first becomes number one in the space. After about 5 years of active work, all the non Google watchers realized that faSDVs were going to be real sooner than they thought. Probably 2035 instead of 2080+. So individually and collectively, they made some modest investments...

GE lacks the courage to take risks. GE could be great again. It has cash, borrowing power and large numbers of highly skilled people. It knows how to run massive manufacturing empires. GE simply lost the ability to take responsible risks that create opportunities potentially large enough to grow profits in the size necessary to be meaningful for a large company. Rather than make this a large answer, I’ll describe two different but similar examples that show opportunities exist for a bolder GE. TESLA Tesla wants to manufacture electric vehicles in the millions. It’s having a very difficult time ramping up production. GE could partner with Tesla and fix the production issue. GE could buy Chrysler Fiat (“FCAU”) for $20 to $25 billion. An army of GE Finance, HR and other disciplines could takeover FCAU and convert part and later all of the company to Tesla manufacture. GE also has a near hundred year history of working with unions and a far longer history in managing ...