Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

It’s Only Common Sense: Looking Into the Future

Have you thought deeply about autonomous vehicles and what they will mean to all of us? They 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 a cozy charging pod at home
• Costly real estate plots will be available for redevelopment
• There could still be services like Uber and Lyft, but 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 have themes—such as yoga buses, gaming buses, and education buses—so choosing a ride will be less about the vehicle and more about your particular interests

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 I’ll 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, 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? When the U.S. government was doing it, billions of dollars of great equipment was considerable 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. 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. Afterward, the SpaceX team partied like it was 1999. Here comes the interesting part of this story. The average age of those SpaceX employees was 27, which makes them millennials. 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 toward.” And that goes for just about anyone of any age.

By the way, what’s your guess as to what it costs in fuel to send a rocket into space and back? If you guessed anything like $5 million or $10 million, you’re way off. The truth is that it cost $200,000 in fuel to send a rocket into space and back. That’s about the same amount that it costs a pensioner to drive his 45-foot RV from Tampa to Alaska (just kidding).

It’s fun looking into the future. It’s great to learn all of this neat stuff and impress your friends and family members with your knowledge. But this is all much more serious than that. Don’t stop at reading this information and being amused by it. This information is a lot more valuable than just fun-filled facts and trivia.

The real value in learning and gaining this insight into the near future is what you do with it today. What are you going to do with this information? You have the playbook. You’re like Biff with that sportsbook in “Back to the Future Part III.” You know how things are going to work out and 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, “How can I take advantage of this knowledge?” How are you going to develop your strategic direction today based on what you now know about tomorrow? That’s the real beauty of seeing the future.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.