Twenty years ago we had no need to keep a small computer in our pockets at all times. Today, life without a smartphone seems impossible. And what about cars? At the moment, life without one seems at least complicated. But do you think in 20 years we actually might not need to own a car at all?
Check out: How to Think About the Future of Cars
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Glossary
- ludicrous – so foolish, unreasonable, or out of place as to be amusing
- ownership – the act, state, or right of possessing something
- foresee – be aware of beforehand; predict
- permeate – spread throughout (something); pervade
- stumble – trip or momentarily lose one’s balance; almost fall
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Think about it
Answer the questions below.
- What are innovations in ride-sharing, car-sharing, and long-distance transportation bringing us closer to?
- What do you need to consider to make any sort of prediction about automotive industry?
- What do cloud solutions look like in today’s world? What was the initial attitude towards them?
- In what way is transportation similar to cloud solutions?
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Practice makes perfect
Fill in the blank spaces with the missing words. Use ONE word per blank space.
Twenty years ago, ____ world only had inklings of how the internet would revolutionize IT. When Marc Benioff introduced “Software as a Service,” skeptics emerged from every corner of ____ industry. It ____ heresy to claim that large businesses, with highly customized hardware and software solutions, would move their resources into someone else’s data centers. SaaS might be ____ decent solution for the small businesses who couldn’t afford their own infrastructure—but it ____ never going to be appealing ____ those with more complex demands.
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Fill in the blank spaces with the correct form of the words in CAPITAL LETTERS.
It’s true that only a tiny segment of the population truly can view ____ DISRUPTION transportation services as real substitutes for car ____ OWN in today’s market. However, it seems inevitable that ____ INNOVATE will make this option appealing to an ever larger group of people over time. Uber has already showed us glimpses of how this will occur by adding cars of all ____ VARY: cars with car seats, wheelchair ____ ACCESS, and SUVs for larger groups. For new parents who couldn’t use the service before, Uber is finally an option. For people who sometimes need a car seat, sometimes need an SUV, and sometimes just want a ride in a sedan, it’s one of the better options.
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Explore it more
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