![\"future_Waymo-Jag\"](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/4bf48896d1c00dfbe6c0fb6afce0dc26031ec597\/c=91-336-1773-1600&r=x404&c=534x401\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/03\/29\/DetroitNews\/B99643559Z.1_20180329221713_000_GL81UDM02.1-0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/div>New York<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 You can sense the desire for an autonomous electric future in Gotham\u2019s gridlocked streets: Impatient business people, Uber drivers and families find themselves stalled in cross-town traffic wasting precious time.<\/p>\n Waymo and Jaguar opened the New York auto show early Tuesday with a lifeline to urban commuters: a gorgeous, five-passenger, self-driving Jaguar I-Pace EV with 360-degree lidar detection and a 240-mile battery range.<\/p>\n The future is here, right? Not so fast.<\/p>\n By the end of Tuesday, Jaguar had also introduced a 550-horsepower gas-guzzling variant of its F-Pace SUV. Wall Street\u2019s NASDAQ index had stumbled \u2013 in part as Silicon Valley\u2019s pet tech stocks faced the consequences of a fiery possibly self-driving Tesla crash in California and continued\u00a0fallout from a fatal collision<\/a>\u00a0between an autonomous Uber Volvo XC90 and an Arizona pedestrian.<\/p>\n On the show floor, Volvo\u2019s tight-lipped response to the Uber tragedy was as noticeable as Jaguar\u2019s celebration of 20,000 I-Pace orders from Waymo.<\/p>\n The show\u2019s bipolar nature points to the uncertainties that surround the industry\u2019s massive investment in autonomous EVs. It\u2019s an investment driven by the conflicting incentives of market opportunity (autonomy) and government regulation (electrification) \u2013 and a promise of safety that, in the words of best-selling author and Car and Driver contributor Malcolm Gladwell, \u201cexchanges one class of risk for another.\u201d<\/p>\n For small luxury-automakers like Volvo and Jaguar, there is an irresistible upside to partnering with ride-share giants like Uber and Waymo because it raises automakers\u2019 profiles in a high-tech, eco-conscious segment of the marketplace. Autonomous ride-sharing also promises large sales volumes for EVs that have struggled to earn back their production costs.<\/p>\n But the downside was painfully obvious as the video of the fatal Uber crash went viral. Suddenly, the carefully manicured reputation of Volvo as a safety brand was in jeopardy.<\/p>\n Volvo refused comment this week, sticking to a statement it released after the Uber incident which read in part: \u201cUber is cooperating with local and national authorities and Volvo is assisting in these investigations. We cannot speculate on the cause of the incident. We await the full investigation report.\u201d<\/p>\n Large automakers like General Motors, Audi and Toyota have been careful to keep their autonomous testing in-house \u2013 partially out of a concern of being dependent other manufacturers\u2019 technology, company insiders say.<\/p>\n In an auto show forum hosted by Car and Driver, Gladwell \u2013 a renowned author whose work explores the sometimes unexpected implications of technological progress \u2013 expressed broader concerns over the vulnerability of autonomous cars if they fulfill their promise as the dominant form of personal transportation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe automobile can be subject to malicious manipulation,\u201d said Gladwell, drawing parallels with the persistent hacking problems other industries like banking have suffered as they have increased electronic services. \u201cIf I were a malicious hacker, I\u2019d want to hack into 5,000 cars on I-95 during rush hour and cause a 9\/11-type event.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI worry about this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n On the battery front, uncertainty over EV profitability has driven Jaguar to, paradoxically, make more gas-guzzling SUVs.<\/p>\n Moments after declaring the battery-powered I-Pace \u201cthe future\u201d of sustainable transportation, Jaguar design boss Ian Callum on Tuesday night rolled out the 550-horse, sub-20 mpg, SVR performance version of the brand\u2019s best-selling E-Pace ute.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the sublime to the ridiculous,\u201d smiled Callum. That is, from the unprofitable to the\u00a0very\u00a0<\/em>profitable.<\/p>\n Bipolar product disorder is perhaps no more pronounced than at Volkswagen which stunned New York with a Big Three-fighting\u00a0Atlas Tanoak pickup truck concept<\/a>.<\/p>\n