Disruption in the Automotive Industry

 The question asks if the Cambrian Explosion is an appropriate analogy for the changes occurring in the automotive industry.  According to part of the definition from Wikipedia from our discussion “Before the Cambrian explosion, most organisms were simple, composed of individual cells occasionally organized into. Over the following 70 to 80 million years, the rate of diversification accelerated, and the variety of life began to resemble that of today. Almost all present animal phyla appeared during this period.”  

So how is this the same in the automotive industry?  The first vehicle that was believed to have been built was steam powered.  Approximately 39 years later after the first vehicle was created the engine had advanced to a combustion engine that ran off of hydrogen.  Automobile engines then evolved into combustion engine that was powered by gasoline. Once again, the automotive industry has evolved to vehicles that run on gasoline and electricity (hybrid) or powered with straight electricity.  Like the simple celled organisms evolving into complex organisms so have automobiles.

The complexity of organisms over time have evolved like vehicles.  Organisms evolve to allow them to survive in their climate and region. Over time vehicles have done the same thing.  Take for instance trucks.  Not all trucks were 4-wheel drive type vehicles when they were first created, but over time they changed and now you are able to purchase either a 2-wheel drive or 4-wheel drive pickup truck.  You can take this even further and look at classes when comparing animals to vehicles.  

In the Cambrian explosion most varieties of life as we know it began 70-80 million years ago.  Let’s look at the tigers for example.  Did you know there are six known subspecies of tigers?  There are Bengal, Indochinese, Malayan, Siberian, South China, and Sumatran. So, what is the difference you may ask.  A tiger is a tiger, if you look closely at their differences you will see their color is not all the same and their patterns of stripes are not same either.  

This could be the same for trucks.  I have a love for trucks, more specific Ram 1500’s.  Like the tiger the truck also has different subcategories.  

Trucks fall into different price ranges based on different sub-categories such as the Ram Express, Ram Tradesman, Ram Big Horn, Limited, Limited Longhorn and Rebel.  The outside may look the same, but if you look closely you begin to notice slight body differences.  The Ram 1500 truck is distinguished by its front grill design.    Examining a tiger’s stripes closely, one can differentiate where they originated from just like the grills of trucks can tell which sub category the truck falls in.

I believe that I fall in the digital immigrant’s camp along with my generation and generations before me because we are “old school” in the view of the Digital Natives.  For example, I learned how to unfold a map, use the key and plot how long it would take to get from point A to point B.  I also knew how to find objects on the map by using the grid that was set up on the map for example “Denver = A4” on a Colorado map.  The Digital Natives simply say “Hey Siri, where do I find Denver on a map” and Siri will pipe up “Denver is found in Colorado” and give you more information.

The automotive industry started seeing the Digital Natives as the major player in their industry and moved in that direction.  For example, many years ago to have a “Navigation System” in your car was a major upgrade.  Not very many people I knew had it.  The Digital Natives cried for more technology and now almost every car you see has some kind of Navigation System in it.  My wife and I recent bought anew GMC Acadia.  We had issues with the stereo because the touch screen would go blank and stop working.  We took it to the dealership to get corrected.  I thought it would be an easy fix but two days later it was fixed.  I asked why it took so long and the response I got was “Mr. Kowalsky, there are 32 computer systems in this car.  We had to find the one that controlled the relays to the radio system.”