Speeding Into Tomorrow

Driverless cars will be our future, but no thanks to the auto industry

I see it coming — and soon. A sea change: The driverless car will transform how we live, work and maybe even love in the future. These self-driving pods will take the “work” out of transport, returning us to the joy of mobility with mega-efficiency and adventure.

Already, 44 percent of drivers say they’d consider buying a fully autonomous vehicle, as the industry calls them, and the tech players are doing a genius job inventing these no-driver-needed roadsters. Automakers are following suit and fast, with Volvo, Audi, Chevrolet, Ford and others in ingenuity mode. Volvo’s first 100 self-driving vehicles are scheduled to launch by 2017 in Sweden, and Mercedes has even discussed making their Car2Go shared cars self-driving in years to come.

But history has repeatedly shown us it’s never the established industry that innovates and reinvents itself. And the auto industry will be no different. It will fail to deliver the driver-free vehicle of the future for two reasons:

· Automakers are too entrenched in their production lines and linear ways of thinking

· They don’t, and won’t, build cars that women want to drive.

The auto industry is perpetually bound by processes and linear thinking — from boardrooms down to assembly lines. Bureaucracy blocks and obliterates true innovation and transformation. We should think about driverless cars as the next Internet replacing newspapers, or home delivery replacing the supermarket. Those industries were well aware that change was percolating, but couldn’t adapt in an imaginative and innovative enough way to seize the opportunity.

In the same way that Uber — a technology company — disrupted the taxi industry, someone from outside the auto industry, or perhaps even outside the traditional tech industry, will bring us a truly visionary, transformative driverless car.

What’s more, the traditionally “by men, for men” auto industry will be left scrambling because they do not design vehicles with women in mind. This Female First mindset is more critical than ever as women currently control $28 trillion of consumer spending globally. By 2020, they will control more than 66 percent of wealth in the United States.

Women drive out of necessity, not because it brings them joy or satisfaction (or at least I’d say that’s true for 98 percent of the female population). But driverless vehicles will be for modern women what the bathtub used to be — an escape, a place to unwind and think. These cars will be our ultimate and latest “Cocoon” — safe, protective and restorative. Driverless cars will be able to expand and contract to accommodate whatever size group is traveling. They’ll be customized with built-in car seats for kids, cages for pets, a 3D printer cooking up snacks, and live feeds that connect us (when we want) to the people who matter most.

In these pods, there will be scents and colors that delight the senses and truly encapsulate us in our “happy place.” Maybe they will even be where couples go for trysts, like the backseat in a bygone era.

Beyond that, they will be a mobile work-station, freeing up “drive time” and allowing women to work when they need to — on the move. Think of the success that will enable. Women are already soaring ahead in terms of academic and professional achievement.

These driverless pods will be safe and stress-free — which is crucial for women. With global anxiety and depression rates skyrocketing, these cars will be the perfect retreat. Once vehicles become fully driver-free, accidents will decrease by over 90 percent, leading to a happier, traffic-free life. Women will be able to get their kids and families from here to there securely without their presence. No more worries about driving under the influence or while texting. A true liberation.

Also imagine the public good these cars can do — going where we don’t want human drivers to venture. Into fire, flood and quake zones or areas of political unrest to transport those in need of aid to safety. They’ll be bulletproof and be capable of fighting our wars for us.

It’s a no-brainer that driverless cars will be in all of our garages in another decade or two. Then, in future generations, they’ll be able to float. Driverless hovercraft for a new era.

But mark my words: The people who will truly transform the car industry are out there where we least expect it.

They, unlike the auto industry, will define transportation of the future by thinking outside the box — and outside of the known production line, outside of the typical male target consumer, and outside of the idea that we’re all eager to drive. It will be a company with a startlingly fresh perspective that pioneers a completely new road.