Self-driving cars find new ally
Automakers and tech firms have long been the ones hustling to get self-driving cars on the street. But they’ve lately been joined by a surprise ally: America’s alcohol industry.
In recent weeks, two industry groups — one representing wine and liquor wholesalers, and another representing large producers — have thrown their weight behind coalitions lobbying to get autonomous vehicles on the road faster.
Inherent in their support, analysts say, is an understanding that self-driving cars could revolutionize the way Americans drink. Brewers and distillers say autonomous vehicles could reduce drunken driving.
Without the need to drive home after a night at the bar, drinkers also could consume far more. And that will boost alcohol sales, one analysis predicts, by as much as $250 billion.
“It makes a lot of sense that the industry is interested,” said Jim Watson, a senior beverage analyst at Rabobank, the multinational finance firm. “It’s a win-win for them: Self-driving cars could boost alcohol sales and simultaneously reduce drunk-driving.”
Industry groups say they have kept tabs on technology for years. On March 1, the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, a group representing nearly 400 U.S. alcohol brokers, joined the Coalition for Future Mobility, which has lobbied for self-driving cars. That same week, the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility — an industry-funded nonprofit that battles underage drinking and drunken driving — signed on in support of a pending bill that would speed the commercialization of self-driving vehicles. FAAR’S members include Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Bacardi and Constellation, four of the world’s largest liquor and beer producers.
Both organizations say they are concerned about drunken driving and public safety. The industry has long supported technologies that keep impaired drivers off the road, such as alcohol sensor monitoring and ignition interlocks, said Ralph Blackman, FAAR’S president and chief executive.
But despite a steady, longterm decline in drunken driving rates, alcohol-related crashes still kill 28 people each day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That statistic has been a black eye for the industry. It has also prompted some jurisdictions to levy alcohol taxes and limit the density of bars and liquor stores, which reduces alcohol consumption.
“Safety is a constant concern for us,” said Craig Wolf, the president and chief executive of the wholesalers group. “When we see a new technology that could improve safety, we want to learn more about it and share our unique perspective.”
Experts say there is some evidence that true self-driving cars would reduce DUIS. These differ significantly from the semi-autonomous cars currently on the market, which still require active input from a human driver. (In January, a San Francisco man was charged with a DUI, even though his semi-autonomous Tesla was set to “autopilot.”)
New sales aren’t the only way that the alcohol industry stands to benefit from self-driving cars, said Watson, the Rabobank analyst. For years, the industry has also suffered through a major social shift, with consumers drinking more at home and less at restaurants and bars. If autonomous cars can push some drinking back outside the home, Watson said, alcohol producers and retailers will be able to take advantage of higher margins.
On top of that, autonomous delivery trucks could significantly reduce labor costs for distributors. Brewing giant Anheuser-busch partnered with car technology company Otto in 2016 to transport a shipment of beer across Colorado — the world’s first commercial shipment by self-driving truck.