Do Self-Driving Cars Even Stand a Chance? — Tech Roundup
Self-driving cars have garnered the attention of seemingly every automaker in the world. In fact, these days it would be surprising to see an auto company not focused on the advanced workings of autonomous vehicle.
These companies need to start working on tomorrow's technology today if they want to stand a chance in the future. The impressive, Jetsons-like advancements are exciting too, and it's got investors hoping to one day see these cars on the road.
It's even dragged tech companies like Apple (AAPL) - Get Report and Alphabet (GOOGL) - Get Report into the mix. While there is definitely excitement around the group, not all consumers are buying in. In fact, in a recent a survey by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, roughly half of respondents said they preferred "no self-driving" when it comes to the autonomous capabilities of vehicles.
Only 15.5% of them were for full self-driving capabilities, while roughly 40% said they were okay with "some" self-driving features.
Although media coverage of self-driving cars has increased, the feeling from consumers hasn't improved, according to the authors of the survey. Other surveys have found similar results.
It probably doesn't help that earlier this year, Google's self-driving car was involved in the first accident where it was the vehicle's fault, while many drivers simply aren't comfortable not controlling their own vehicles.
Shares of Alphabet closed at $717.24 Monday, down 0.6%.
Facebook (FB) - Get Report and CEO Mark Zuckerberg continue to prove to anyone doubting the revolution in virtual reality that the emerging technology is here to stay. Or at least, it appears that way. After snapping up Oculus VR for some $2 billion in 2014, the pair made their next move, acquiring Two Big Ears.
Two Big Ears specialized in VR audio. While it may seem like VR audio would play a small role in the overall technology, it has a way of even more deeply immersing users in the technology.
Instead of just hearing what's around you, users can hear where it came from -- how far, which direction, etc. Visual realism is important, but don't undermine the audio portion either.
Facebook and Oculus plan to make the technology free for developers. The plan obviously indicates the companies want to make Oculus the clear leader in what both are hoping turns out to be the next big thing. Doing everything to make that technology as real as possible will be key.
Shares of Facebook closed at $115.97 Monday, down 1.2%.
IBM (IBM) - Get Report is firing. No wait, it's hiring. Previously, the former tech titan announced an unknown amount of layoffs in its legacy business. But that doesn't mean it's turning its back on all of its employees.
The company recently posted some 7,000 job openings, but also said that they haven't all been posted yet. In all, some 20,000 positions are reportedly open.
Instead of using IBM products, customers have instead opted for cloud-computing services. This put IBM behind in the competitive race, with many companies, including Amazon (AMZN) - Get Report , Oracle (ORCL) - Get Report and Salesforce (CRM) - Get Report , taking the lead.
That's led to 16 straight quarters of sales declines, while earnings per share fell well-short of the company's once long-term outlook. Investors are hoping that the hiring spree in its new businesses can boost overall sales another notch, which could fuel profits going forward.
Shares of IBM closed at $146.82 Monday, down 0.3%.
Alphabet, Apple and Facebook are all holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells GOOGL, AAPL and FB? Learn more now.
This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
