Wharton Lifelong Learning event
The Joe Talks speaker series brings experts in the Wharton community to alumni across the globe offer the opportunity to learn about cutting edge topics in today’s dynamic business economy and to engage in the Wharton network. Wharton and Penn alumni are invited to connect with world renowned faculty and with one another for lively conversation and deeper understanding in sessions spanning the gamut of highly relevant business topics near and far.
October 10, 2018 at Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
Event Website
Speaker: John Paul MacDuffie, Director, PVMI
Description
The transformation of the mobility sector — encompassing the automotive sector and new entrants from the technology sector but also the providers of mobility services — has captured the attention of established incumbents, aspiring entrepreneurs, analysts/consultants, policy makers, and activists. Mobility of individuals and goods underpins a key part of global GDP; provides livelihoods and boosts convenience and quality of life; generates externalities (e.g. congestion; greenhouse gas emissions; energy dependence; injuries/deaths); and affects us all daily. This talk gives particular attention to the distinctive societal expectations placed upon those who build and operate motor vehicles —which are fast-moving, heavy objects that can kill people and destroy property while operating entirely in public space. These expectations will affect the pace of the transition from the current human, and carbon fuels-based mobility system to the autonomous and electric future system that so many now eagerly (or fearfully) anticipate. He will also emphasize the challenges facing both incumbent and new entrant firms as waves of disruptive technologies and new business models arise — and the likelihood that automotive and tech firms will need to collaborate, less out of preference than necessity.