By Lauren Fix
Recently, global elites and world leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum also known as the WEF, had their annual summit. Adel Bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Climate Envoy for Saudi Arabia, said at a recent meeting in Switzerland, “There will be no cars.”
During a panel session titled ‘The Evolution of Urban Life,’ Jubeir stated that they plan to revolutionize the way people look at cities and urban planning. NEOM is an attempt to create a city that is environmentally friendly, sustainable, that has a very high quality of life, that has virtually no traffic.”
According to the World Economic Forum, a group of super wealthy unelected people, claim ‘The era of cars as the ultimate tool for personal freedom and mobility will soon be over. Cars will be something you ask to borrow and the cloud will be taking the wheel.’
I’m sure you are shocked and angry, wait until you hear the rest of their plans.
The automotive industry is becoming part of the “industrial to digital transformation,” Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon said, “The technology transformation in the industry is electrification and is digital.” Car makers are partnering with tech companies that makes cars computerized and this will be integrated into the cloud, where they can be monitored and controlled by a centralized network that can prevent collisions, alert you about road conditions and manage traffic. Sounds not so bad on the surface.
While much of this technology already exists via cell phones, and some cars already track your gaze to alert you when your eyes stray from the road, the next step is linking the car’s systems together with manufacturers and other vehicles and allowing for continuous third-party tracking. This violates your 4th Amendment rights.
These developments are moving in lockstep with efforts to compel consumers to buy electric vehicles (EVs), including laws in California, Washington, and many European countries to ban the sale of gas-fueled cars by 2035 or sooner.
How will your vehicles be controlled, connectivity, intelligent communications within and outside of the car is a key enabler for autonomous technologies. This gives computers access to your data and your vehicle.
Part of their goal is to force shared rides, according to the WEF “the ownership model of cars is evolving to renting and sharing as customer preferences shift.” People will not own cars, they will only share them with permission. The WEF suggests a simple solution: don’t buy a car. Their report states that consumers should not buy cars but rather borrow them.
The WEF report states. “To enable a broader transition from ownership to usership, the way we design things and systems need to change too.” These changes include phone app keys that allow multiple users and personal profiles that can distinguish between use for work and for leisure.
The WEF prides itself on being the biggest global advocate for public-private cooperation, and governments in the U.S. and Europe are doing their part to advance external control of cars.
Carmakers will be forced by President Joe Biden’s 2021 Infrastructure Act to install new features on cars in the coming years, including breathalyzers, speed limiters, vision and voice trackers and “kill switches” that automatically shut the vehicle off. We have covered this in another episode.
Arguably, these features can reduce injuries; however, they also involve new surveillance technology that will monitor peoples’ behavior and make decisions for them. There are also concerns that building in these controls that are not in the hands of the driver leaves drivers vulnerable to dangerous computer hacks.
Like your smart phone today, the car of the future is going to know quite a lot about you. And as the WEF famously stated, “you will own nothing and be happy.”
Removing private vehicles goes hand in hand with the removal of our rights and other private property and feels like an unsurprising statement given everything we’ve heard from the WEF in the last half decade.
There is so much more to discuss on this, put your comments below and let’s start the conversation.
Lauren Fix, The Car Coach®, is a nationally recognized automotive expert, analyst, author, and television host. A trusted car expert, Lauren provides an insider’s perspective on a wide range of automotive topics and aspects, energy, industry, consumer news, and safety issues.
Lauren is the CEO of Automotive Aspects and the Editor-in-Chief of Car Coach Reports, a global automotive news outlet. She is an automotive contributor to national and local television news shows, including Fox News, Fox Business, CNN International, The Weather Channel, Inside Edition, Local Now News, Community Digital News, and more. Lauren also co-hosts a regular show on ABC.com with Paul Brian called “His Turn – Her Turn” and hosts regular radio segments on USA Radio – DayBreak.
Lauren is honored to be inducted into the Women’s Transportation Hall of Fame and a Board Member of the Buffalo Motorcar Museum and Juror / President for the North American Car, Utility & Truck of the Year Awards.
Check her out on Twitter and Instagram @LaurenFix.
