Francois Auque of Airbus Ventures went head to head with Jason Ball of Qualcomm Ventures Europe to discuss the relative prospects of each technology.
The first debate of 2017’s GCV 2017 Symposium took place on the main stage this morning and focused on the relative potential of flying cars versus autonomous vehicles.
Global Corporate Venturing contributing editor Tom Whitehouse was moderator, while the combatants were Francois Auque, chairman of the investment committee at Airbus Ventures, the corporate VC arm of aerospace company Airbus; and Jason Ball, managing director at Qualcomm Ventures Europe, which invests on behalf of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm.
Auque contended that we are likely to see flying cars become commercialised and hover around cities before we see fully autonomous self-driving ground motor vehicles. Ball argued the contrary position – that autonomous cars will become the predominant means of transport.
Dressed as a hybrid superhero with a Superman mantle and a Batman mask, Whitehouse opened the debate by alluding to 2016 blockbuster Superman vs Batman, where Superman is “essentially a flying car”, while…
