"If we had a Metropolitan Council who was visionary instead of owned, they would also be able to see this change coming. They would scrap the entire LRT system and get ready for the next huge revolution. But they won't. Why? They are owned."
Bob Lutz, the former chairman of General Motors was on the radio today with some ominous predictions. Predictions about the future of automobile travel. One second please, before I continue - LISTEN UP YOU STATIST TRAIN LOVERS!!!THIS IS MOSTLY FOR YOU!! Anyhow, according to Mr. Lutz, who tends to know a thing or two about the automobile industry, our days of driving cars are coming to an end. For some, sooner rather than later.
The visionary companies are already all over this. When will the change happen? Now, in some parts of the country. Lutz thinks the change will be from now until 30 years from now. After that - all transportation will be driver-less. That would be both urban and rural. Traffic will move faster, and less time will be wasted in traffic. The new cars will be electric and most folks will not own one - only rent time in one.
I know. Someone is going to bring up the fact last week there was an accident with a diver-less bus and a truck. That is true. But the fault was determined to be with the human driver of the truck - not the driver-less vehicle.
By 2022, two things will be happening. First the long dreaded, expensive and very useless Southwest Rail will be online. Just heard some of the local statists talking about that on the news this morning. PLUS (and this is a big one), the shiny new toy in transportation will start to become more and more common in urban settings. Millennials and Gen-X'ers will be dropping train transportation faster than, well, a NASCAR (which will also be going away.
Bob Lutz said mapping is already going on - and going on like crazy. All streets, down to potholes, are being mapped. This change is like a juggernaut. Nobody can stand in its way. Cars which require a human driver will soon only be good for scrap metal.
If we had a Metropolitan Council who was visionary instead of owned, they would also be able to see this change coming. And be excited about it. They would scrap the entire LRT system and get ready for the next huge revolution. But they won't. Why? They are owned.
Bill Gates just bought 25,000 acres just west of us. When he or minions build this city of the future, driver-less cars will be front and center. Possibly robotic spouses also. Be careful what you wish for in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe abandoned SW Rail Line will make a marvelous pedal-less bicycle path for the folks. By then, the city will have grown out to the exurbs.