#174-Phillip Wilcox, Author, "The Future is Autonomous"

Autonomous Cars with Marc Hoag

"What Phillip Wilcox has accomplished with The Future is Autonomous is nothing short of remarkable. The scope and depth of this book is simply staggering, while remaining an incredibly fast and easy, conversational read. From technology to society; from a micro view of individual companies to a macro, holistic look at the global AV industry; from legal issues to policy matters and everything in between, Wilcox somehow manages to cover the entire spectrum of the burgeoning autonomous vehicle industry and provides a distilled, unbiased crash course on a crash-free autonomous future."

That was my preliminary review of Phillip’s book, available now for Amazon Kindle and paperback. Having now finished the book — in one 3.5 hour sitting, mind you — I summarized it thus:

“Wilcox’s book is an astonishing crash course (pun not intended) on AV tech and law; a deep dive into US and China AV companies; the trade and security issues between the two countries that could determine the future of AV deployment; and so much more.”

First, if it isn’t yet abundantly clear from my praise above, this book is simply astonishing; a wonderfully cohesive package that will bring anybody up to speed on the present state of the autonomous vehicle industry.

On a personal note is the astonishing backstory that inspired Wilcox down this journey of research and writing, something that Wilcox shares as best he can remember. Suffice to say, it involved tremendous, life-threatening injuries; it’s incredible he lived to write this book in the first place.

What makes the book especially rich in its discussion of the autonomous vehicle landscape generally is Wilcox’s deep dive into the very essence, the very fabric of Chinese culture in order to understand and explain the different approach to this autonomous future.

But Wilcox doesn’t come at this from a distant vantage point; on the contrary, he’s lived and travelled throughout China, and even speaks and still studies Mandarin. So a mere superficial analysis from some distant point of view this is not; rather, it’s an incredibly nuanced, yet easily approachable discussion on the intricacies of culture and business in China, complete with analogies to other industries like the search engine space.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough, so go grab your copy now, and enjoy the next hour with Phillip Wilcox, author, “The Future is Autonomous.”