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124 Chapter 4 Hardware, Software, and Mobile Systems

fewer auto loans written (finance), fewer automobile insurance policies underwritten (insur-
ance), and fewer parking lots (real estate). If they didn’t have to drive, consumers might take
more trips by car than by plane or train (transportation).
The production of self-driving cars will mean more jobs for engineers, programmers, and
systems designers. There will be more computer hardware, sensors, and cameras in the vehicle.
Corporations may not completely see the far-reaching effects of self-driving cars on existing
industries.
How will self-driving cars disrupt your personal life? Suppose you get married in a few years
and have a child. Will your child ever drive a car? Will driving a “manual” car be too costly? Your
potential offspring may never learn how to drive a car. But that may not be too strange. Do you
know how to ride a horse? Your ancestors did.

3D Printing
The third disruptive force that has the power to change businesses is 3D printing. As you learned
in Chapter 3, 3D printing will not only change the competitive landscape but may change the
nature of businesses themselves. Think back to the AllRoad Parts case at the start of this chapter.
The AllRoad Parts team chose to not manufacture 3D bike parts because it would change the
nature of the company’s business and its business processes.
While AllRoad Parts chose not to manufacture 3D bike parts or designs, it’s possible that one of
its suppliers might. Nike, for example, recently used a 3D printer to create the world’s first 3D-printed
13
cleat plate for a shoe called the Nike Vapor Laser Talon. Nike chose to use a 3D printer to produce
the cleat because it could create the optimal geometric shapes for optimal traction. Using a 3D
printer it could design and produce a lighter and stronger cleat much more quickly than before.
3D printers have the potential to affect a broad array of industries beyond sporting equipment.
You can get an idea of the scope of change when you realize that 3D printers can print in more than
just plastics (Figure 4-8). They can print in metals, ceramics, foods, and biological material too.
Take the ability to 3D print in a variety of materials and look for opportunities across the aerospace,

Figure 4-8
3D Printer
Source: Seraficus/iStock/Getty Images

13 Liz Stinson, “For Super Bowl, Nike Uses 3-D Printing to Create a Faster Football Cleat,” Wired, January 10, 2014,
accessed May 23, 2014, www.wired.com/2014/01/nike-designed-fastest-cleat-history.