Verizon CEO: Autonomous Vehicle Could Happen In 3-5 Years
By Edward Cardenas
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - The CEO of Verizon Communications told the Economic Club luncheon Monday at the Motor City Casino that autonomous vehicles could be only three to five years away.
Lowell C. McAdam shared his prediction before his presentation to the Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress in Detroit this week.
McAdam said that the if business and government came together on the effort, that chips could be embedded in the striping of the road and cameras on the overpass which could make this a reality.
"Ninety percent of the building blocks are in place, all we need to do is get the right ecosystem and have the transportation department say this is where we are going to pilot it," McAdam said.
Conferences such as ITS are important to create one standard for autonomous cars, because competing platforms would "will just make everything slow down."
He added that Detroit could be the center of this development if the progress made by Detroit's automakers continue by attracting talent and creating an "innovation incubator" to make it happen.
"I think intelligent transportation is Detroit's to lose," he said
He added that in light of the recent iCloud hacking of celebrities, one of the easiest things consumers can do to protect their information is have strong passwords.
As consumers take that step, McAdam stated that Verizon is constantly monitoring threats worldwide from cyber terrorists and hackers.
"We are blocking 20 billion attacks every day. It is unbelievable the amount of attacks." he said. "There is nothing of higher priority than protecting the security of our networks."
While communications companies are working on the present, to provide service and protect networks, they are developing the fifth and sixth generation of digital networks along with embedding chips into clothing to connect with wireless networks.
"I think the best is ahead of us," he said of the future of technology for education, health care, transportation.