Future Cars

We are stuck with the roads, the grid, the circulatory system that distributes us from place to place — and here’s how I propose we push things forward, all in the pursuit of a greater coefficient.

The idea that two objects travelling towards one another at rapid speeds are controlled only by the frailty of human focus never quite sat well with me. Cars –like many remnants of the industrial age– are dangerous, toxic, perilous devices that would benefit from radical reconsideration. In the future, all cars will be electric, all cars will drive themselves, and so the notion of personal car ownership will be as relevant then, as horse ownership is today.

Consider this. You own a car 100% of the time, yet you use it 10% of the time, if even. During the remaining 90% of the time, it sits dormant in your drive, or wherever you’ve insisted on parking it. Have you ever considered, that the moment you stop your car, there’s probably someone within 500 meters starting their car. This is a grave inefficiency that needs to be adressed.

It is my belief that personal car ownership will diminish; not entirely, but for most this will be true. You will pay more –but less than you do today– for a luxurious vehicle, and of course you’ll pay by distance travelled.

I say all this because I’ve lived this life. I’ve used an entirely electric vehicle for about 3 years and I’ve used Hailo almost exclusively for about 3 months twice a day. The experience was flawless. It granted me the freedom to travel without the restriction of debt, both intellectually and financially. The electric scooter was cheap, and the cabs were there only when I needed them. I can see the technologies converging.

As a child –and still as an adult– I often wondered how many car doors were being slammed shut at a given moment. I wondered how it would sound to hear all those doors shut at once. I’m not sure why I thought about that, but I did. Perhaps the notion that as individuals we contribute to something greater than ourselves spoke to me, and so I hope it speaks to you.