I heard Elon Musk talk about the future of autonomous taxis (robo-taxis). But what really caught my attention - and what I hadn't thought about before - was our cars' personal utilization rate.

Currently, the average personal car utilization rate is around 5%.

This means my Mazda3 sits in my parking lot next to my wife's Mini Cooper 95% of the time (maybe even more due to Covid!).

But in a world where autonomous taxis (ride-hailing services) are deployed, the personal car utilization rate could turn out between 50 to 80%.

No longer would your car sit in a parking lot 80-90% of the time. You would have two options. First, you could own a vehicle and rent it out (think Turo 2.0 - basically, you could have your own car-sharing fleet on autopilot). Second, you don't own a car and simply hail an autonomous taxis. Either decision leaves cities with fewer cars, less traffic congestion, and fewer automobile accidents. The increase in personal car utilization is a net benefit for all.

While the autonomous world Elon envisions isn't here yet at scale, it's starting to happen in select cities in the U.S., from Las Vegas to Metro Phoenix (e.g., Waymo One).

Ark Invest is a global asset manager specializing in thematic investing in disruptive innovation (like autonomous vehicles). Earlier this year Ark released its "Big Ideas 2021" which its research team believes autonomous ride-hailing is likely to dominate urban transport soon.

Ark’s Two Main Points:

"We believe autonomous ride-hailing will reduce the cost of mobility one-tenth the average cost of a taxi today, spurring widespread adoption."

ARK's research suggests that autonomous ride-hailing platforms will generate more than $1 trillion in profits per year by 2030. In addition, automakers and fleet owners could enjoy profits of $250 billion and $70 billion, respectively."

Below are a few slides on autonomous ride-hailing. I highly recommend checking out Ark Invest’s “Big Ideas Report 2021”.

Okay cool, but isn’t this all futuristic?

Not at all.

The advancements in AI, cloud computing, and Big Data are transforming the world.

Check out these TechTables Podcast episodes for more insights.

AI - How AI and Robotics are Transforming Industry 4.0 with Andrey Shtylenko, Director Artificial Intelligence & Machine Vision Engineering at Honeywell.

Cloud - The Netflix of Data? Clumio, a New Kind of Data Platform with Poojan Kumar, Co-founder & CEO at Clumio.

Big Data - The StoryBrand Framework: How Design Thinking Powers Data Science with Bill Schmarzo, Adjunct Professor at Menlo College (ex-Hitachi Vantara)

The question I’m asking myself is “What will Mobility-As-A-Service (MaaS) in 2028 look like?”

Why 2028?

Because I’m hoping there are autonomous ride-hailing taxis in Los Angeles for the Olympics of course!

Speaking of the Olympics - I’m very excited to interview Ted Ross, CIO at the City of Los Angeles - for Season 3 of TechTables to chat about smart cities and digital ethics.

I’m very interested to chat with Ted about a paper by McKinsey titled, "Change vehicles: How robo-taxis and shuttles will reinvent mobility", and the case study they looked at was the City of LA.

The public sector is evolving for technology leaders, and while change won’t happen overnight, no dream or vision for the future rarely does. If Elon and other futurists succeed, you and I will be ride-hailing autonomous taxis in a smart city near you.

PS: Make sure to check out my episode with Stewart Mader, Chief Customer Experience Officer at NJ Transit. “The Future of Transportation: How Digital Mobility Hubs Are Changing the Game.”

In Berkshire's 2015 Annual Letter, Buffett lays out how to arrive at leadership greatness. This one quote will yield dividends in your life.

Much of what you become in life depends on whom you choose to admire and copy. 

And who you admire and copy in life today is who you will become tomorrow.

And who you become tomorrow is how you will spend your life.

Who are you choosing to admire and copy?

You will spend 90,000 hours on average working in life. What you create, build, develop, code, lead, and transform will happen at work. If you are intentional, it will happen with people you admire and want to copy.

If you are not around leaders you choose to admire, why?

I am one of the luckiest folks alive. I love my job. I have the privilege of interviewing technology leaders who are much smarter than me across many different technology domains.

I learn from technology leaders across the spectrum, from Fortune 500 to state and city governments, every week. I cover topics from the cloud to artificial intelligence and machine learning to digital transformation 2.0 to mobility as a service, to name the next technology I'm covering that topic. : )

I've even made new friends! While I don't have the space to list every new friend, one highlight is Andrey. We have a lot in common and text at least once a month.

Check out my episode with Andrey Shtylenko - How AI and Robotics are Transforming Industry 4.0.

Choose the people you work with very carefully, which means being intentional with who you let into your life.

Remember, you have a choice with who you love, where you work, and how you want to live.

I'll close out with the words of Charles Cooley:

I am not what I think I am, and I am not what you think I am. I am what I think you think I am.

Let the authentic and best version of YOU show up today.

If you learned something today and want to receive more updates about technology, leadership, and business, subscribe here to receive my free newsletter.

LISTEN TO MY TECHNOLOGY PODCAST - TECHTABLES HERE

Newsletter & Podcast Sponsors

Nagarro makes the podcast possible. The best way to thank Nagarro for sponsoring me and the podcast (TechTables) is if/when you have a technology project please think of Nagarro. Reach out and I will connect you with one of our technologists or CoEs (Center of Excellence) to learn more.

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The numbers are impressive, but what do we as business and technology leaders do with this information?

And even more importantly - how do we make sense of the data our organizations are ingesting?

First, when our organizations ingest any type of IoT data, that data we need to understand is a cost, and if someone hacks our organization, it becomes a liability real quick too!

Check out my episode with Bill Schmarzo, Chief Innovation Officer, ex-Hitachi Vantara, for an excellent overview of IoT data as an asset or liability (and why GAAP accounting measures don’t properly value IoT data in the current age).

The StoryBrand Framework: How Design Thinking Powers Data Science

So how do we make it an asset?

IoT becomes an asset when organizations take action on that data.

For example, take NYC, in which there are over 10,000+ city traffic cams.

“The switches power cameras and sensors at intersections. The cameras track traffic and pedestrian flows while the sensors count cars and support the city's Connected Vehicle project. The data is transmitted to the city's traffic monitoring center.”

The goal is to reduce traffic-related deaths, and car crashes too.

Here’s an excellent visual overview of all the inputs:

NYC’s 5 Goals:

* Foster Innovation by creating structures and programs that support research, testing, and experimentation with IoT technologies

* Promote Data Sharing and Transparency around City IoT use by engaging residents about IoT initiatives, and aggregating information and data from the City’s work to make them available across agencies, and for the public, where appropriate

* Improve Governance and Coordination of the City’s use of connected technologies through new policies and processes

* Derive Value from Cross-Sector Partnerships by supporting and pursuing new opportunities for collaboration

* Engage with Industry and Advocate for Communities by creating new channels for exchange and advocating for digital rights

Yesterday I wrote about Microsoft’s Q2 earnings. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, said that we’re in the second wave of digital transformation. What will ultimately drive value in the IoT ecosystem for New York City is Cloud and AI adoption.

CIOs and technology leaders should keep in mind that software ate the world. Now, AI and Cloud will eat software next.

The question is, are you ready to turn your IoT data into an asset? Or let it languish as a cost? (or worse, liability?).

If you learned something today and want to receive more updates about leadership, technology, and personal development, subscribe here to receive my free newsletter.

This installment of A Cup of Joe is free for everyone.

LISTEN TO MY TECHNOLOGY PODCAST - TECHTABLES HERE

Newsletter & Podcast Sponsors

Nagarro makes the podcast possible. The best way to thank Nagarro for sponsoring me and the podcast (TechTables) is if/when you have a technology project please think of Nagarro. Reach out and I will connect you with one of our technologists or CoEs (Center of Excellence) to learn more.

Newsletter Support - please share A Cup of Joe with your friends. : )

You are receiving A Cup of Joe because you either signed up or you attended one of the events that I spoke at. Feel free to unsubscribe if you aren’t finding this valuable.

“Large projects that were postponed earlier in the year are being re-prioritized, led by application modernization, SAP migrations and workplace transformation. Healthcare, financial services and pharmaceuticals are among the industries leading the way, but even those under most pressure are diverting investments to cloud, opening up new revenue streams and diversifying business models.”

I had a fantastic conversation with Rehan Rizvi, Chief Enterprise Applications Officer at NJ Transit about cloud application modernization. For a deeper dive check out my full interview with Rehan below.

Why does it matter to CIOs and technology leaders?

On Microsoft’s earning’s call, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, said, 

“What we have witnessed over the past year is the dawn of a second wave of digital transformation sweeping every company and every industry,”

The second wave of digital transformation is here and now. The pandemic is the forcing function for enterprises and governments around the globe to truly embrace digital transformation. The second wave is here.

Nadella also mentioned,

“Building their own digital capability is the new currency driving every organization’s resilience and growth. Microsoft is powering this shift with the world’s largest and most comprehensive cloud platform.”

For a deeper dive into the biggest drivers of cloud spend in the enterprise IT market (and Clumio’s position in the backup-as-a-service sub-market), check out my interview with Poojan Kumar, Founder & CEO at Clumio.

The Netflix of Data? Clumio, a New Kind of Data Platform

And Amy Hood, executive vice president, and chief financial officer of Microsoft said,

“Accelerating demand for our differentiated offerings drove commercial cloud revenue to $16.7 billion, up 34% year over year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft. “We continue to benefit from our investments in strategic, high-growth areas.”

Azure is closing the gap with AWS. Azure’s growth rate is the fastest in the share of worldwide revenues and potentially has the possibility to pass AWS in the next three years.

The ability for technology leaders to deploy cloud technologies like Microsoft Azure will further empower CIOs and technology leaders to take bold steps into the future and become consumers of machine learning technologies that ultimately serve their customers and constituents better.

A fantastic episode on the value data as a corporate and government asset, check out my interview with Bill Schmarzo, Chief Innovation Officer, ex-Hitachi Vantara.

The StoryBrand Framework: How Design Thinking Powers Data Science

If you learned something today and want to receive more updates about leadership, technology, and personal development, subscribe here to receive my free newsletter.

This installment of A Cup of Joe is free for everyone.

LISTEN TO MY TECHNOLOGY PODCAST - TECHTABLES HERE

Newsletter & Podcast Sponsors

Nagarro makes the podcast possible. The best way to thank Nagarro for sponsoring me and the podcast (TechTables) is if/when you have a technology project please think of Nagarro. Reach out and I will connect you with one of our technologists or CoEs (Center of Excellence) to learn more.

Newsletter Support - please share A Cup of Joe with your friends. : )

You are receiving A Cup of Joe because you either signed up or you attended one of the events that I spoke at. Feel free to unsubscribe if you aren’t finding this valuable.