From metal to mobility: A paradigm shift in full gear

Gary Silberg has been in self-driving cars before. But for the first time ever, he paid for the ride.

As Silberg welcomed attendees to KPMG’s 14th Annual Automotive Executive Forum in Detroit, he recounted his experience just the previous week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Lyft and its tech partner Aptiv operate an AV fleet that offered thousands of rides during the event, and Silberg was one of the lucky passengers. More, customers are pleased with experience. On average, the driverless vehicles receive near-perfect “driver” ratings.

The success helps prove that AVs and mobility as a service are not just ideas, but commercially viable ideas whose time has come—and come faster than anticipated.

Silberg took a brief look back at KPMG’s thinking over time starting in 2012 with papers on the rise and consumer acceptance of self-driving cars and mobility as a service, as well as on the clockspeed dilemma facing automakers used to operating on a multiyear calendar in an era of accelerated innovation such as artificial intelligence and deep learning. Meanwhile, AVs are rolling out as KPMG had foreseen in what Silberg calls “islands of autonomy.” *

“We predicted many of the things that are happening today would happen in 2025, just to show you how fast things have moved,” he said.

Silberg then unveiled KPMG’s latest paper, “Autonomy delivers,” detailing how consumer desire for on-demand, home-delivered goods will fuel the rise of AV delivery vehicles and business models.

“It's been a fantastic journey with big ideas at KPMG,” Silberg said. “We are honored to be able to talk about those today.”