Bill Gates and future cars

By: Drivers.com staff

Date: Wednesday, 18. October 2006

Already, there are cars that can drive themselves, but Bill Gates sees a future with cars that won't let themselves crash.

Gates floated the idea at the Microsoft Global Automotive Summit, which was held at Ford's Dearborn, Michigan headquarters. The focus of the conference was the convergence of computer technologies in automobile manufacturing and automotive telematics. "The embrace of technology will be the key for the leaders of the industry,'' Gates said.

At the Summit, Microsoft unveiled its Performance Peak Initiative, which is a line of computer systems which can help the auto industry improve coordination of supply chains, streamline design, production and sales, and also coordinate and enable the stream of technologies now entering automobiles.

The technologies include high-definition screens, speech recognition technology, cameras, digital calendars and navigation equipment. These are the technologies that will enable auto manufacturers to outpace their competitors in the future, Gates said.

Gates' remarks about cars that would not let themselves crash grabbed media attention, and the idea is not that far out. There are, after all, cars already in existence that are capable of driving themselves in limited traffic situations.

However, the real focus of the Microsoft presentation was Microsoft technologies for enabling more efficient manufacturing operations, supply chain performance and sales and customer service.

By taking advantage of Web technologies and services to connect key systems in the supply chain, the Peak Performance Initiative is aimed at removing barriers to innovation and competition in the auto community.

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