For those of you who are used to talking to cars, the future will be status quo for you. Imagine that you arrive at work and are greeted by a barrage of eager customers who have made appointments to have their fluids checked, their tires rotated and their vision checked. Wait, vision? That’s right — those eager customers very likely will be driverless cars and trucks. Don’t get too excited yet, though. Human owners will still be attached to those cars, but you may never see them in the flesh. If this does not scream, “What happened to my business model?” I don’t know what does.

Nearly every government acronym you can think of and all the OEMs are working very diligently to make driverless cars (some call them drones) a reality. Creating a strong business case for these vehicles is an aging population who will need mobility, children who have so many activities that they need an administrative assistant, and people who can’t be bothered to drive while they are texting. While it may sound like I am against this technology, I am not. I will admit that my major concern is what happens when a driver who never operates their vehicle in normal circumstances is called upon to take over from an Autonomous Vehicle (AV) when an unanticipated blizzard or fog bank pops up. How would people who don’t drive handle these tough situations when they get no practical experience? Realities like this beg questions that remain unanswered.

Getting back to the auto repair topic, I have even more questions than answers about what the future holds. The answers to these questions will likely come from the next-generation repair shop, which is currently being left up to our imagination.

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Brake & Front End