Editorial

For me, the June 19 announcement from Mercedes-Benz and the BMW Group that the two German powerhouses are placing their automated-driving joint-development program “on hold” pretty much closed the book on the irrational exuberance era of autonomous-vehicle hype. The projected economic ramifications of COVID-19 are only capping off a wave of reality that was sweeping through the AV development world.

Anybody with sense always knew the runway was suspiciously short for wide swaths of AV investment and development. The inevitable cash desert coming in COVID's wake simply made the industry's famously venture capital-driven optimism undeniable.