00:00 Speaker A
You’re also on the board of General Motors, I mean, a company I know very well. You know, I’ve talked to a lot of executives there for a long time. Um, how did a company become like, well, first of all, what do you take from Tesla and bring to a company, an iconic automaker like GM?
00:19 Speaker B
Yes, something like that attracted me like there’s this iconic American company that’s so important to GDP, but it’s also so important to the national psyche. It is for survival. It is necessary not only to survive, but to thrive. And that’s what made me love being a part of it. And in terms of what to bring, uh so what I try to bring I try to be super helpful to the team.
00:49 Speaker B
in a couple of ways. Sometimes I’m a little bit provocative and uh ask tough questions and uh and really try to get some decisions uh and under the speed of judgment and but they do a great job. As we sat in a Tesla and admired the smooth and quiet car it drives. Like you get into one of these cars that they make and they’re like
01:19 Speaker B
Vehicle dynamics are amazing.
01:21 Speaker A
I have black wings. I have a Cadillac Black Wing and a Corvette. So get it like III
01:25 Speaker B
you understand I can imagine. And we used to say, how do these guys do it? yes Because I get behind a Model Y like here in New York City and I need a kidney transplant again. This is bad.
01:40 Speaker A
You said I’m not going I’m just going I’m going to catch it. This is bad. But yes, I agree with you.
01:44 Speaker B
So GM has got them this great engineering base. yes But they are but they are now in a race against China and Mary and team, Mark, Sterling, uh Paul, etc. for speed and low cost.
02:01 Speaker A
Paul Jacobson is no joke, CF.
02:02 Speaker B
They are no joke. Like the whole team is no joke. As you go you get to that senior leadership team and then you go deeper. These people are really nice. really good And so they have more than a fighting chance to come out on top.
02:18 Speaker A
How does a company like GM, an iconic American company, how do they compete effectively if we have a world of robo-taxi or if we have Uber now with driverless cars?
02:35 Speaker B
Yes, because I think our thesis is that there are at least two markets for autonomous cars. One is a robo-taxi. But given the way the demand curve for robo-taxi or ride-share works, everyone wants a car during their commute. That’s when you need them.
02:53 Speaker A
yes
02:54 Speaker B
And so, if I have an autonomous car, am I going to keep it on the network when I need to take my kids to school and go to work? No, probably not. So we make our bet that there are two markets for autonomy. One is robo-taxis and the other is personal autonomous cars. The car you and I drive. So your black wing, your Corvette.
03:12 Speaker A
I don’t put that on the network. I don’t want anyone else to touch that wheel but me.
03:15 Speaker B
Exactly. And nobody’s going to spill a latte on the back or something bad, right? And so, uh our bet is that people want personal autonomous vehicles and that’s going to be our market because that’s what we do, really, really well. We don’t make cabs, but we make great cars that people love to sit in and drive and so our autonomous game is going to be in personal autonomous vehicles. And so Robo Taxi has many functions
03:47 Speaker B
Right now, like you said, with Waymo, Tesla, Uber, etc. That’s all well and good. We are targeting a different market.
03:55 Speaker A
Is GM still, I keep Ford, Tesla, they have to be seen as car companies because they are, I mean major software plays. Uh I look at GM, you know, when they were part of earnings, they’re now touting or pointing to recurring revenue from software subscriptions. I’m like, it’s coming in like real money for these companies.
