Dateline: May 27 2029
I love my car. Actually, it’s not a car, it’s an automobile. An autonomous mobility device. A robot chauffeur that takes me wherever I need to go.
The thing I love most about my car is that I don’t have to pay for it. It pays me. You see, it’s not really a vehicle, it’s a business, a micro corporation in the mobility business.
I have great partners in this business, two of my best buddies. The three of us invested in the scheme, so none of us has to buy their own car. On a normal day the car picks us up at home and drops us off at work.
Then it signs on to the robotaxi network and makes itself available for the rest of the day, like an Uber. Unless one of us needs it at lunchtime — we’ve got first dibs. The car accepts fares from riders, and puts the money in its crypto wallet. When it needs to recharge its batteries, the car finds the cheapest, nearest charger and pays for juice from its wallet. And it fetches us from work at night and takes us home.
At weekends, if we need the car it has a booking schedule. And if it is booked up and we need to go somewhere, another robotaxi is always available. And if it is free, the car runs errands for us too.
The best part, the part I love most about my car, is the end of the month. Because I don’t have to make a lease or instalment payment, or settle a bill for fuel. Instead, the car pays me a dividend!
It’s a delight, being in the transportation business.
First published on Mindbullets May 29 2025.
I used to drive a supercomputer
Dateline: July 22 2025
Electric cars have come a long way, and because they can virtually drive themselves they are packed with computer chips and smart software that makes the typical model more powerful than 350 laptops. And they have hyper cloud connectivity to boot!
When I was a freelance consultant and expected to commute to clients, my office was the trunk of my car, which was where I kept essential paperwork and the audiovisual kit for keynotes. Now my office is in the garage and so is my supercomputer car, which runs my digital business, with power to spare.
It was pure serendipity, but the graphics chips that are needed for smart cameras and sensors, image recognition and machine learning, are the same hardware used in crypto mining rigs and for AI-enabled fintech work. And because the auto companies put so much effort into perfecting self-driving, you are getting a connected supercomputer at bargain-basement prices. With our Tesla solar roof and the car’s awesome battery capacity, there’s always enough juice to run the business 24/7.
Access to virtual servers in the cloud is great when you are getting started, but it is no substitute for ownership of your own supersmart system when you want to dominate your niche. I have direct access to the programming and can change things in real time; if I need to relocate in case of an emergency, the whole thing is mobile and ready to go! And when my co-founders join me for a working lunch, we have a complete data centre parked in the driveway. Almost for free.
Remote working has become the norm, so I have co-opted my spouse’s car as a backup unit — a complete mirror site, to guarantee zero downtime or business interruption. And if he does need to go somewhere or drop off the kids, there is always Uber.
Why drive a supercomputer, when you can use it to run your business instead?
First published on Mindbullets July 22 2021.
Despite appearances to the contrary, Futureworld cannot and does not predict the future. The Mindbullets scenarios are fictitious and designed purely to explore possible futures, and challenge and stimulate strategic thinking.
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