Every week I read about some dude dying because his Tesla or other “self-driving” car ran into a tree or under a truck. Right now, you get what you pay for (and foolishly accept). Tomorrow will be different. Tesla, Mercedes and Google are working out the bugs. The robot car is here to stay.

I predict in ten years they will have a significant portion of the motoring market. In twenty years they will be the majority of the vehicles out there. Some are worried about a decline in road etiquette.

I certainly agree though I can see a distinct benefit. I drive a lot and estimate 75-90% of American motorists are utterly incompetent. Proof of a benevolent God is in the fact that there are not 30 million traffic fatalities every year.

What is there to possibly lose? Right now the robots aren’t much better. But they are a little better. I know I could out drive any computer on the road today. Most people can’t. And they know it deep down inside.

Thus, in a few years they will welcome the car that drives for them. In fact, they may have no alternative.

Tesla is flooding the markets with their dealerships. Traditional “knock their heads off” dealers are not happy. Too bad. The traditional car market is about to start dying the death of the old publishing industry.

The problem for dealers is that not only will people in the future not drive, they won’t even own the self-driving cars. Uber is about to go driverless. (So are buses, trains, and ships. Planes won’t be far behind.) The idiot of the future who wants to go somewhere will think about it. The computer in his head will call for a car. The car will drive itself up and off they go. The trip will be debited, via computer, to the passenger’s account.

The Uber fleet companies of the future will all buy from the manufacturers. Bye, bye, dealers. Insurance companies are going to have to figure out a new way to rob people too.

For me personally, I look forward to trading vast swarms of slow, erratic clovers for slow, erratic robots. I’m already in the market for a new battering ram.

“Move Over” painted in reverse on the grill, eh?

My biggest concern about all of this is that sooner or later the government will mandate robot cars. My love of V8 power, speed, and simplicity, coupled with my hatred of lights, beeps, buzzers, and talking computers already has me out of the existing new car market. All I’m left with is old trucks. I imagine those will be illegal in a decade or so.

So, my whole point of this is … does anyone know of a good, reliable, used Baron G58 or similar small twin-prop at a good price? A few more best sellers and I may be in the market. Y’all have fun with the robots on the road.

Textron. That’s a 200, I know.

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In slightly related news, dealing with the death of the way things were:

Donald Trump says he is the last chance to elect a Republican. He’s right about that. It is now or never for my conservative friends.

What he really means is he is the last chance to have another four – eight years of talking about getting America back. At the same time he would probably hold the line slightly against the third-world slide.

I’ve said again and again that the only way to get back to the “good old days” of a responsible Constitutional Republic is to elect Ron Paul in 2008 (not in 2012 – too late). You missed that chance. Now, Trump offers a chance for an extension of the bitching about going back.

After that, after this presidential cycle is over (maybe once it begins), the party is over. It’s been over for a few years now but some of the guests are still reluctant to leave. Maybe when they finally go home they can ride in a robot car!