Google vs. Apple. Comparing Different Strategies to Establishing Self-Driving Cars

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Business economics - Supply, Production, Logistics, grade: 1,7, University of Münster (Institut für Genossenschaftswesen), course: Unternehmenskooperation, language: English, abstract: Self-driving cars are highly topical and much research is done in this field by leading international technology companies and car manufacturers. Google and Apple are both likely to launch a self-driving car in a few years and compete in being the first to develop the required technology. This paper reveals two entirely different strategies to establish self-driving cars by comparing the two technology giants' way of bringing a car into the market. The technology required for driverless cars includes a computer software specifically developed for self-driving, sensors consisting of lasers, radars and cameras to indentify objects in all directions, electric batteries, back-up systems taking over the driver's tasks and a car shape that does not interfere with the sensors' field of view. There is still much research to be done in this field, but it is quite sure that driverless cars will work in a few years. For this purpose, the firms' resources are analysed with the help of the resource-based view. Then, this paper derives the different company strategies and applies them to the self-driving car projects of Google and Apple.