As the founder and CEO of Smartcar, a soon to be launched start-up, Sahas Katta is very much focused on infrastructure for the connected car.
For Katta, who made his name in 2013 reverse engineering his dad’s Tesla Model S, the key infrastructure to ensure the success of the connected car remains our roads. And they need “a serious upgrade”, Katta insists.
New roads (rather than new walls) are, therefore, the key to reinventing the American economy.
So the real conversation that the 2016 candidates should be having, he says, is about how to make our roads ready for the connected car.
Unfortunately, neither Hilary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz nor Donald Trump are talking transportation infrastructure and thus are all missing one one of the most important drivers of innovation in the American economy, Katta argues.
Californian Governor Jerry Brown gets it, Sahas says, with his proposal to raise money by taxing people on the amount that they drive. But this kind of State based innovation isn’t being replicated at the Federal level.
As always, many thanks to CALinnovates for their help in the production of this interview.