Someone tweeted the other day that in the not too distant future people might say (when referring to cars) “I can’t drive this, it’s a manual”, but they’ll be referring to the steering wheel and not the transmission. And that got me thinking…define future. A year? Five years?

After a childhood spent reading Popular Mechanics, I had become jaded after the vision of the Year 2000 failed to live up to expectations. But lately it seems like “The Future” is finally arriving and more importantly it’s accelerating. I have “nephews and nieces” who range from one year to twelve years old and I keep wondering which of them is going to be able to, need to, or want to operate a motor vehicle. Potentially none of them. Even if Level 5 autonomous vehicles are still a few years off, Uber/Lyft is here to stay.

I also think about the next generation and what their interactions with technology will be like. Every other tech article is about “AI” or “ML” and Intel claims to have built a 17-qubit processor. Okay it has to operate at almost absolute zero degrees, but it also wasn’t that long ago that my computer took up half my desk – now it fits in my pocket (sort of).

What will their buying habits be like? I’m guessing they won’t go to malls. I’m guessing they’ll just buy everything on Amazon, and I mean EVERYTHING including prescription meds, liquor, homes, repairmen for the homes, food delivery, and even Cars…assuming car ownership is still a thing in the future. Either way, I hope cars fly in the future.