Positive Side of Autonomous
tl;dr: autonomous cars are a net-positive to us. The transition is what causes negative perceptions. We’re bad at handling disruptive change. Let’s fix that.
Every piece that covers autonomous cars usually talks about the accompanying loss of jobs. You might have witnessed that yourself. Funny enough, if you Google “autonomous cars” here’s what you see at the top.
Google results for “autonomous cars”
Usually I have the same reservation. Being a people person, I care about the transition of those who are going to loose their jobs. For once, I had a more optimistic intuition the other day. It happened at an empty strip mall, not unlike ones you’ve seen or been to.
Autonomous cars will decrease car ownership. It will be cheaper to get a ride from a company like Uber. Less parking lots will be needed, freeing up space for repurposing. This would decrease real estate costs allowing entrepreneurs to swoop in, develop new businesses, and create new jobs to replace the lost ones.
The author (another Zack), of the article I cited above, presents a similar scenario and has studies to support the argument. Instead of repeating them here, I highly encourage you to read his piece. He also lists other benefits to autonomous cars: environmental, productivity, safety…quite optimistic unlike his title implies.
However, he left out any details or opinion on handling the transition. We need to remedy that, else the impending change will take us offguard. All that is needed is awareness. My hunch is that people whose jobs are in danger aren’t tech enthusiasts, like myself, following the development of autonomous cars. They range from not knowing to being skeptical of the technology. If we inform them, they will have time to gain skills.
We must act now, since we don’t know the velocity of adoption. I’d argue it’ll be swift. People are used to using ride sharing services like Uber/Lyft. All it takes is for the technology to be ready and these companies switch them in. Another case is iPhone vs iPad adoption, the latter was much faster signaling the increased speed of tech adoption in our society. Conservatively, that gives us 2–3 years before the technology is ready which is enough time to master a skill.
The good thing about learning a skill is that it’s a positive regardless of what happens. Passionate about Music? Get started with your guitar and some YouTube lessons. The free time generated from autonomous cars means more people picking up hobbies and more demand for guitar tutors. If the technology doesn’t materialize and your job is secure, you’ll be able to serernade your loved one with sweet melodies. Win-win!
That leaves us at the open question, who is responsible for raising awareness? Ride-sharing users, non-profits, the government, companies developing the technology….all of us?
---Think about it and pass it along.
- Previous LinkedIn post: Over Revving Without Blowing Your Engine
- Medium profile for more: Zak Nasser
Global Director - Buy Side Sales
10 年I agree with the assessment that tech innovation can generate better (or more) employment opportunities, like many l just can't figure out its short and long term impacts on the entire society. Economists run parallels with the Industrial Revolution; going from a farm to working in a factory could happen pretty fast. Going from a cabbie to programming in Java is a steep learning curve. The disruption happens fast and leaves massive imbalances in the short run, while benefits have a long run effect. But as Keynes famously said, in the long run we are all dead...