Back in the 19th century, if you wanted electricity, you had to make your own provisions. Each individual was responsible for acquiring and maintaining their own electrical supply. And then the electrical grid and electricity was available on tap. It turned from a product to a service. Both electricity and transportation share the same property in that its never directly desired, its only desired as instrumental to a larger goal. We dont care that we have power, just that our tvs turn on and our showers are hot. The same applies to transportation. As a result, its become increasingly clear that transportation is about to make this exact same transition. Our current system by which each individual is responsible for maintaining their own means of transport and diligently becoming an expert on both the operation and maintenance is, I predict, going to seem like one of the most anachronistic parts of society when viewed from 50 years in the future. Instead, the future of transportation is that it will be on tap. When we need to be somewhere, it will simply happen and the job of maintaining the mechanics for making that happen will be abstracted from the user. Nobody is quite sure how the competitive landscape of this future will turn out. Will freight and human cargo be under one system or separate systems? Will different modalities (car, train, air) be run by different providers or be vertically integrated? Will a monopoly form or a profusion of small, competitive corporations? (via Quora)
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 15:47:00 +0000
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