Ben Gilbert: prediction

Transcript context

…The infrastructure point is an interesting one too because I remember—not that I spent a ton of time in the autonomous space—a few years ago, people were thinking, oh, well, if there are going to be new roads built or roads upgraded in the U.S. that are going to be integrated with EVs, then this is going to be great. The reality is that's not going to happen in the U.S. anytime soon, but China could actually do this. Right. The U.S. is at a huge disadvantage for this, both because of the reliance on the existing system whereas China will just make a government mandate and say, no, we're building an all-new system. People will snap too, but also because of the federal system, the idea that we're a whole bunch of states that are all going to pass laws independently. I think the ability to require that people stay at home during the CoronaVirus is a very similar example where if something is declared by fiat, it is much more likely to be followed than the please population, do something. Very different strategies that both have their trade-offs. It is not that centralized in China either. The local government—I worked with some of them—definitely have a lot more power, a lot more budget than here in the States. I can't imagine some of the cities. I've lived in the Bay Area. For example, really being able to remake the entire traffic light system, lane markers, or whatever it is that's needed.…

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