Internet of People Observatory - Issue #4

There seems to be some consolidation in the free-for-all that’s the IoT standards space, with the AllSeen Alliance announcing a merger with the Open Connectivity Foundation. OCF seems to have the broader member roster, and Qualcomm crucially was present in both orgs. So time to declare IoTivity (you can’t make this up) a winner? Not so fast. The number of competing standards is mind-boggling. 

And in one of the quirkier standardisation processes, the German DIN group started a process for standardising a “model reference architecture for open urban platforms”.

Last week we looked at Bruce Schneier calling IoT security a market failure and calling for government intervention. And apparently the EU is in the first steps of drawing up regulation. Now, on the one hand, this is necessary, if only to end the worst practices. On the other, it could open the door to 5G levels of incumbency protection. Maybe a first step would be to consider liability regulation, which for software is exceedingly lenient.

Studies galore: 

McKinsey and Bloomberg: An integrated perspective on the future of mobility.

BCG: Will autonomous vehicles derail trains?

Strategy&: Connected Car report 2016

If anything, it’s clear that the nexus of connected mobility, self-driving cars and electric vehicles is taken seriously. Whether car makers and policy makers respectively draw the right conclusions is another matter entirely, as the V2X mandate seems to show. We’re still waiting for how electric utilities will react.

And Uber is in the news. It’s got drones annoying the heck out of folks stuck in traffic jams in Mexico City. And in other Uber news, it seems drivers are starting to coordinate to temporarily close the app around special events to drive the service into surge pricing, then come online again and pick up higher fares. Humans will find an edge to game almost any system. And that’s before we look at the system risk that Transit Network Providers present to public transport infrastructure.

Someone trained an AI on Doom. And we figured training self-driving cars in GTA was bad enough. 

This story about data-driven myth “family trees” which help to substantiate evidence of human migrations is bonkers.

Greg Koenig with a lot of informed opinion on Apple’s manufacturing process. Features the “Hunt for Red October”.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading. And again, please forward this to folks whom you think might draw value from it, and please, share your feedback! Thanks!

Martin