When it comes to driverless cars, automakers are still in the driver's seat

Despite incursions from software giants like Google into the driverless car market, the world still needs the automakers to drive the process, a Forbes columnist says.

Excerpt:

"...But there's a growing consensus, mostly emanating from the left coast, that Google has somehow cracked the code to the future of mobility and will soon render traditional carmakers like General Motors, Ford Motor and Toyota Motor as nothing more than purveyors of ordinary appliances.

Baloney, I say. Self-driving cars are coming, but they won't have a Google badge glued to the hood....

Instead of Google vs. Detroit, I see a new era of collaboration. Carmakers will necessarily team up with digital partners like Google, Microsoft, Intel (maybe even Apple) to produce   talking vehicles that don't crash and get you to work on time. Companies like Ford and Microsoft already collaborate on technology that lets you bring your music and social media apps into your vehicle. Now these non-traditional partners will be working together to solve the difficult challenges of urban mobility on an overcrowded planet."

More here.