Have you thought about this autonomous vehicle thing? I mean really done some deep thinking about what it will mean to all of us, how it will change the world in ways we have not even thought of yet?

Here is some insight into what is called “Level 5 of autonomy” and what that will be like:

• Streets in cities as well as neighborhoods will be reconfigured to accommodate the new autonomous modes of transportation.
• Fewer parking lots will be needed since your car will drop you off, and pick you up, on demand so that most of the time it is parked in its own cozy charging pod at home.
• This means real estate plots; costly real estate plots will be available for re-development.
• There could still be services like Uber, and Lyft, the only difference is that they will be driven and managed remotely in centers around the country the same way that today’s drones we have in  the Mideast are managed by operators in the United States.
• Public transportation, such as buses will actually have themes such as Yoga buses, gaming buses, and education buses. Choosing a ride will not be so much about the vehicle, but also about your particular interest.

And if you think this is far-fetched then think again. As we speak UPS is already running long haul autonomous trucks from Tucson to El Paso on a daily basis. The future is here right now!

I just finished reading a great book titled Pandemic, Inc. 8 Trends Driving Business Growth and Success in the New Economy by Patrick Schwerdtfeger. And if you are serious about knowing what is going on in the world both today, as well as having a clear crystal ball vision of what the future will be like, then do yourself a very big favor and read this book.

Let’s step back into the present for a minute and talk about SpaceX. Answer this question. “How much do you think the fuel costs to send a delivery rocket into space?” Think about that for a few minutes and well come back to that later.

Speaking of SpaceX makes us think of Millennials. Remember them? Those loathsome young people who are always screwing up the way we do business. Always wanting to do it their way and not paying attention to the way things have always been done. Man, those kids are a pain, right?

Well, give this some thought.  SpaceX solved a lot of the rocket inefficiencies that had become normal and accepted. Why were we leaving all this expensive hardware in space? Millions, heck billions when the U.S. government was doing it. A lot of great equipment was considered disposable.

When Elon Musk thought about this, he found it unacceptable. There had to be a way to send a rocket into space, have it deliver its payload and come back to earth safely to be used again. And as we all know he and his team managed to do this and now it is part of everyday life.

The first time they ever did it was on December 21, 2015. And afterwards, the SpaceX team partied like it as 1999! Now the interesting part of this story. The average age of those SpaceX employees was 27! Which makes them…you guessed it: Millennials. So, forget whatever you thought about them because it’s not true. As Mr. Schwerdtfeger says,” Millennials will work harder than anyone you’ve ever hired if you give them something inspiring to work towards.” And that goes for just  about anyone of any age, come to  think of it.

Oh, by the way, what’s your guess as to what it costs in fuel to send a rocket into space and back? What do you think? Ten million dollars? Five Million? What’s your guess? Okay if you guessed anything like that you’re way off. The truth is that it cost $200,000 in fuel to send a rocket into space and back. That’s it, that’s all, about the same amount that it costs a pensioner to drive his forty-five- foot RV from Tampa to Alaska! Kidding.

It’s fun looking into the future isn’t it? It’s great to be able to learn all of this neat stuff and impress your friends with it at your next cookout. 

But wait a minute, this is all much more serious than that. Don’t just stop at reading about this information and being amused by it. This information is a lot more valuable than just fun filled facts and trivia.

No, the real value in learning these facts, the true value is gaining this insight into the near future is what you do with it today. What are you going to do with this information?

Think about it. You’ve got the playbook! You’re like Biff  with that sports book in Back to the Future Three. You know how things are going to work out, what the scores are going to be. Knowing what will happen in the future is the hard part. Now all you have to do is ask yourself how you can take advantage of this knowledge.

How are you going to develop your strategic direction today based on what you now know about tomorrow? Ah that’s the real beauty of seeing the future isn’t it? Think about it. It’s only common sense.