I've been in favor of self-driving cars since the idea's inception, despite having meetings with various experts who say an actual implementation is decades away.

I've also been confronted by car companies that are promoting networked and connected cars that are not necessarily autonomous. Some car makers cannot even decide whether the car should stop itself in an emergency—technology that has already been implemented by some.

My favorite comment comes from Detroit, where companies like Ford argue that the self-driving car is a non-starter because "people like to drive." I guess they have not chatted much with the millennials who decidedly do not like to drive. The success of operations like Lyft and Uber would be dubious without the millennials.

The auto companies are all looking into self-driving cars, though, in case it becomes the primary direction of transportation, which is a foregone conclusion. Toyota could probably put one on the road now. All the German companies are working furiously, as is Detroit...out of fear.

What these car companies should be spending their money on is a team of lobbyists and public relations operators to stifle, forestall, or kill the self-driving car. There is no future for the automakers as we know them in a world of self-driving cars.

For one thing, it's folly to think that in a world of self-driving cars anyone would want to own a car. What would be the point when you can call up a ride and save money on gasoline and parking? Since you do not own a car in the first place, all your insurance costs, maintenance, and car payments are now zero.

But what happens to car sales when all vehicles are part of what amounts to a large ride-sharing fleet? What's the point of designing something special or unique? It will be a world of stripped-down, gray Corollas everywhere.

When I was a kid there was a car culture in this country. That is largely dead. There were drive-in movies, restaurants, and even churches. There was endless weekend "cruising," a phenomenon ended by a virtual police state and public disapproval. Most people reading this column will not even know the phenomenon existed. Go watch the film American Graffiti to get a sense of it. Here's the trailer from 1973.

The car companies must know that car culture is dead; they study it (I'd hope). I'm not sure they realize that they themselves are dead, or will be soon, unless they collectively kill the self-driving car.

I do not think they have the sense to do it.

Of course, the recent boom in car sales (via aggressive debt packages) belies my thesis and makes it laughable, despite the logic. So don't expect anyone to come to their senses anytime soon. By the time they do, it will be too late.

Luckily for the car companies, there are forces at work to derail the self-driving before it starts. The general public is only now becoming aware of the native implications of autonomous cars. Federal, state, and local governments will feel the impact the most via lost revenue. Parking fees, parking tickets, road taxes, speeding, and traffic tickets, parking lot taxes, license fees, car sales taxes—all will be reduced or completely eliminated. In San Francisco, for example, the parking meter plus ticket revenue is estimated at $130 million.

Perhaps autonomous cars can be taxed in other ways, but the efficiency of an driverless transport model may not make up the difference.

The bigger loss is not in revenue, though, but in employment. Once autonomous vehicles become the norm, jobs are lost by the boatload and a costly burden is then put on society.

We are not ready for any of this and should not be extolling the virtues of vehicles that don't need us to drive. Even if it is inevitable.

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