The Year We Forgot How To Drive.
“Vrrrrrbloop. Vrrrrrrbloop. Vrrrrrbloop.”. I’m gently awakened by the soft waves emitted from my Apple Phone. I put on my dress shirt and a pair of comfortable slacks. It’s 2040 and some things never change. I dawdled along with my usual morning routine and stepped outside my front porch. Some of you reading this in the year 2016 will call it a balcony of sorts. Overpopulation is a thing and no one has one of those “house” things anymore. There’s more that I would like to share but your internet kinda sucks so maybe some time next time. In the future?
My ride wheezes quietly to a halt in front of me and I step in. For someone who grew up with The Jetsons, it feels surreal to be living in the future/present. It was only a couple of years ago that J-Tech Automotives, a subsidiary of the Alphabet government, revolutionised the whole transportation industry. None of us own cars anymore. We pay a monthly subscription fee to J-Tech. In exchange, we’re able to access their pool of hover vehicles on-demand. Practically everything is on the subscription model now. Our homes. Our clothes. Heck. Even our lives. For the price of a liver, we’ll even get access to vintage vehicles. No. Really. Human liver is today’s commodity.
It was about 20 minutes into my ride that the windows of my vehicle get glazed in a white non-see through substance. We must be picking up someone along the way. The vehicles do that automatically for privacy. Its a huge thing since hackers are more than capable of stealing your identity. Literally. The last time someone’s pet dodo was caught wandering around, a hacker managed to take control of its’ owner’s body for two days. Ugh. Just imagine that. A pet dodo. Those things are everywhere now.
Looks like we’ve picked up Alan again. We bump into each other for most rides. J-Tech’s machine learning artificial intelligence received its biggest update earlier this year. It knows where and when anyone needs to be at any given point in time and will pool the vehicle with anyone that fits into that schedule and destination. They say its eco-friendly and the planet’s never been in better shape so I gotta agree with that I guess.
He’s a great guy to share a ride with. We have common interests and we joke about everything in life. In fact, that seems to be a common theme with all the people that I share a ride with. Hmm. Maybe its that emotional intelligence sensor that J-Tech has been rolling out to their vehicles over the past few months. Its not like we’re friends on Facebook or anything but I do enjoy my rides. Oh yeah. That. Facebook’s still a thing and yes, Mr Zuckerberg is still closely monitoring his solar farms on Mars, from Mars. Go figure.
After a lengthy conversation, he excused himself to some quiet time. This guy. Just gets me. I turned on my retinal reality enabled iris and my surroundings dive into my memories from 2016. I have just about gotten ready to get into work. I turn on my car engine and breathe in the fresh smell of a machine roaring to life. Its ironic that we miss the inconveniences of life sometimes.
I pressed my hands firmly on the steering wheel and reverse out of the driveway. Just before I glance away, I return a wave. A wave to a life long foreign to me now.
