The faster A.I. improves, the more efficient and smarter autonomous electric vehicles will become. But the more A.I. improves, the more energy it will require. The more energy it requires, the more we want it to be renewable, so as not to exacerbate climate change. The more renewable it is, the more A.I. that America can generate and the more efficient our electric batteries become. The more efficient our batteries become, the more things they can power, from cars to homes to factories — and the more competitive our auto companies become in a world where the future of mobility is going to be largely hybrid-electric, all-electric and autonomous vehicles.
In other words, in the 21st century the country that has the smartest, cheapest and most efficient ecosystem of A.I., E.V.s, smart batteries and abundant clean electricity will dominate. Just as in the Industrial Age whoever had the biggest ecosystem of coal, steel, oil and combustion engines dominated.
It’s the ecosystem, stupid. And if you pluck out one part of it for brain-dead, knee-jerk, right-wing woke political reasons, you lose.
I confess, I have family in San Francisco, and every time I visit, I use only Waymo, Google’s self-driving taxis. I love to see them roll up to the curb to pick me up, my initials flashing on the top; I get in the back seat, select one of the music channels playing my favorite hits and then get out at my destination — no fuss, no muss — because no human is driving.
But the thing about autonomous cars — and, coming soon, autonomous buses and long-haul trucks — is that they must be all-electric and satellite-connected. Electric motors can change the amount of power they apply to turn the wheels instantaneously, in a small fraction of the time that it takes to accelerate in a gasoline-powered car. The far faster reaction time of an electric car in response to an autonomous driving computer is essential so you don’t kill people.
