EP06 - Reimagining GM's culture for a post-CarPlay world, the Paris Scooter ban, and generative AI in design studios

In this episode:GM's post-CarPlay Culture So GM's gone out on a limb and said they're ditching Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for their next generation of cars. To help them on their way, they've hired Mike Abbot, formerly head of Apple's (notoriously) flakey iCloud services.But we reckon that hiring a big name from another sector won't be enough to fulfil GM's connected car ambitions. The company will need to fundamentally rethink their culture, and we offer a few ideas for how they might get started.The Paris Scooter BanDespite a voter turnout of only 7%, 89% of those voters decided to ban eScooters from the streets of Paris.In one of the cities we've previously noted as on of the most progressive when it comes to adopting micromobility solutions, one which has invested heroically in reducing the dominance of the car, it was a sad day.Joe references some research that shows why Parisians might have felt so strongly about the arrival of the scooters (hint: it has to do with parking), and we talk about the long arc of change in our city environments, and how we might work with it, rather than against it.Generative AI and Auto Industry BiasesAs the world debates whether AI is going to kill us or save us, some automotive designers have taken to generative AI tools like DALL.E and MidJourney with unsurpassed glee.But as Drew reveals, the tools are currently perpetuating the worst of the automotive industry's biases when it comes to gender diversity, representation, and inclusion.It's a rapidly evolving space and a split is already emerging between designers who love the tools, and those who are against the creative theft that underlies the models on which they're based.We talk about the need for car companies to consciously and intentionally engage with these topics to make sure they're not caught up in another Volkswagen/Xinjinang situation.That's it for this episode! Thanks for listening.If you like what you hear, please leave a review for us on your favourite podcasting platform. It helps other folk like you find us!And you can sign up for Looking Out - The Newsletter, the sidekick to our podcast, here: automobility.substack.com