With the rise of automation, many in the industry believe we are only years away from getting fleets of robo-taxis that will ferry us away to our meetings, parties, workplaces, schools and dinners. The reality is, the technology, infrastructure and regulation all need to change first and this is unlikely to be a mere “few years away”.

But when all the factors line up and cars do have the ability to drive themselves, will everyone just book rides through ride-share apps? There is no doubt that some people who live in inner-city areas will be perfectly happy with ride-share as their only transport method, but large segments of society will still wish to own (or subscribe) to a specific car.

For many people cars aren’t just for getting from A to B, cars are used for storing sunglasses, nappy bags, prams, used coke cans, footballs, shoes, phone charges and mints. They can feel like our second home. If you have kids, are you really going to re-install child seats every time you get into a ride-share?

So the methods by which people have access to cars is going to become more fragmented, some people will 100% ride-share but large numbers of society will need 100% access to a car, 100% of the time.

Perhaps some families will own or subscribe to one car and then use a ride-share service for any other trips, but the complete death of car ownership is greatly exaggerated.