Almost every industry today is being disrupted in some fashion by new technology. Cloud computing, mobile apps, big data analytics and many others have the scope to turn the old ways of doing things on their heads, creating a new formula for government, for business, for life.
Yet the car and driving have changed really quite little in the past century or so. Yes, seatbelts and airbags have improved safety, windscreens are designed to break into tiny fragments on impacts, crumple zones exist to protect us in a collision, but much of it is reactive stuff. But that is changing, and the future promises to do so immeasurably.
'By 2036, I really do reckon that the auto sector will have been transformed. Indeed I think that autotech will create perhaps the biggest opportunity - certainly the biggest disruption - that we have ever seen and much bigger than smartphones.'
This is the view of technology analyst Richard Holway, founder of the TechMarketView tech analysis consultancy. He gave a speech at the Prince’s Trust ICT Leaders of the Last 40 Years Dinner on 5 October in which he described his view of how technology could likely change the world over the next 20 years.
'Cars, trucks, buses etc will have many autonomous features and certain roads and parts of cities will be exclusively used by self-driving cars. Indeed cars with drivers might be considered as dangerous and anti-social as smoking today!'
'Vehicles using fossil fuels will be banned and most will be electric with battery technology enabling ranges many times those of today.
'I actually think we will just summon a car when we need it rather than keeping it on the drive unused for 95% of the time.'
Shares looked at this exciting space in our cover story The Car is the Star earlier this year, revealing ways in which investor could access the true drivers of change in the autotech world of tomorrow. Feel free to read here.
