GM Brings IT Dev Back In House; Self-Driving Caddy In the Works

dstates writes "Want a good job in IT? Detroit of all places may be the place to be. GM is bringing IT development back in house to speed innovation. Among other initiatives, a self driving Cadillac is planned by mid decade. Ford is also actively developing driver assist technology and is betting big on voice recognition. Ann Arbor has thousands of smart cars wirelessly connected on the road. Think about all those aging baby boomers with houses in the burbs and no desire to move as their vision and reflexes decline. The smart car is a huge market. Seriously, Detroit and SE Michigan have good jobs, great universities, cheap housing and easy access to great sports and outdoors activities."

Comments

Free dystopia

[concealment]

I'm fond of Detroit, but it's worth mentioning that it could be a set from Blade Runner.

Re:Free dystopia

[boristdog]

Fun Fact: Much of Robocop 2, ostensibly set in Detroit, was filmed in Houston. I have no idea why. Probably because of winter, though, which only marginally exists in Houston.

Re:Free dystopia

[lennier1]

In part because due to the high crime rate the real place has become too dangerous to film a movie there about a dystopian crime-ridden Detroit.

Oh boy...

[Anonymous Coward]

Ford ... is betting big on voice recognition.

A driver gets cut off, yells "fucking asshole!"
Car: "Now fucking your asshole"

Fears of Self-Driving Cars

[MyLongNickName]

I love the idea of self-driving cars. I will talk about it with people and frequently, I will get the response "the idea of computers driving scares me". My response: "the idea of humans driving cars scares me more".

Re:Fears of Self-Driving Cars

[Kjella]

A lot of people said that even if self-driving cars were proven to have a fraction of the accident rate of human drivers, people still wouldn't trust them because of those few times something *could* go wrong.

Many if not most accidents are caused by someone being careless, stupid, tired, distracted, drunk or high. That means most people most of the time think they're driving much safer than average, either because they're not any of the things above or think they're not - that particularly applies to careless and stupid. To gain public acceptance you must beat "idealized" humans, that even if you're cautious, forward thinking, well rested, alert, sober and in every way fit to drive a car an AI has 360 degree vision, millisecond reaction time and all sorts of advantages that you can't beat. You're not competing against the actual accident rate, you're fighting people's perceived - and often imaginary - risk of an accident.

Re:Fears of Self-Driving Cars

[Eevee]

...a sensible human who is capable of responding to anything unexpected.

It must be nice wher you live, 'cause around here the typical driver's response to anything unexpected seems to be to crash. Actually, for a lot of drivers, the response to expected things seems to be to crash as well.

Acceptance testing with your life is just not, well, acceptable.

You do realize you're doing acceptance testing of every driver around you all the time, right?

Re:Fears of Self-Driving Cars

[Izmunuti]

While oftware bugs will probably cause some catastrophic accidents from self-driving cars, in the grand scheme of things they would probably be safer.

What will really kill them in the US, at least, is lawyers. If I rear-end someone, who's at fault? Me, and my insurance company gets to pay. When a computer-driven Google-car rear-ends someone, who's at fault. Me? Nah, I was half-asleep, listening to music, brushing my teeth, watching videos, etc. _I_ wasn't driving. Hey, Google wrote the software....they have a lot of money....

Case in point: the media coverage and lawsuits of the supposed Prius accelerator malfunction. That was just a single drive-by-wire element. A fully autonomous car will get trampled flat by the thundering herds of lawyers.

Self driving Caddys for old people

[fustakrakich]

With turn signals that are always on? And will they remind the "driver" where he is going and why?

Nice places to visit also...

[RocketScientist]

Michigan is a beautiful state. Once you clear Detroit you get a sportsman's paradise with fishing, camping, and hunting in some very scenic and well tended state and county parks. The summers are very temperate (rarely gets into the mid 90's) and the humidity is pretty comfortable.

The winters are...more interesting. Not horrible, but lots of snow and cold.

Re:Target Market

[gstoddart]

The Cadillac target market seems to be eerily similar to the cognac target market: a combination of old, at least vaguely affluent, white guys and young hip-hop aspirants. I don't know how it happened.

Price, and marketing. Cadillac has always been sold as up-market luxury. Hell, the name is almost synonymous with luxury in America ... "this is the Cadillac of (item)" conveys quality and luxury.

So the slightly older and affluent folks are the obvious choices because they have the money to buy one, and because older affluent folks have always bought Cadillacs. That's how they know they're affluent. :-P

I think that carried over into the nouveau riche because of the same cachet ... in some circles, if you've made it, you drive a Cadillac. And, since they tend to make larger cars, people who need a little room (like pro athletes) go for them.

I largely think of them as for old men, wise guys (think Sopranos), people who want to put 21" rims, and mommy-tanks (the Escalade).

For me though, it's one of the last vehicles I'd want to own, but that's just personal taste. They're mostly massive cars.

Though, it is always amusing to see a Cadillac or a Hummer that someone has pimped out with huge rims and massive amounts of chrome -- there's a Hummer H3 in my area which has the most gigantic chrome spinners I've ever seen, and every piece that could be chromed has been. Seen the same thing applied to Caddies as well.

Re:Target Market

[Nerdfest]

That would be especially awesome on a stock car track, with the left turn signal left on.

Re:Cost of living

[DriveDog]

Well, no, I can't finance the same lifestyle in Detroit at any price. It's not available in Michigan. For those who like what I consider bad weather, go for it, by all means. But aside from the bombed-out Detroit proper, the area is bitterly cold and grey in winter without a break. Living there year-round is not for everyone no matter how much they clean it up. Cities in cold climes grew 60-120 years ago because it was easier to generate heat than escape it, but now the warmer climes have A/C, so such places will never again see their former glory.

Some people like that climate. That's wonderful. They might love it there.

It's a trap!

[Anon E. Muss]

Anybody thinking of getting an IT job at GM should talk to somebody who worked under Randy Mott at one of his previous gigs (e.g. Wal-Mart, Dell, HP). You won't find many fans.

Re:Seriously...

[RaceProUK]

A caddy is a car carrying golf clubs.

FTFY