The autonomous now.
I was going to write 'The autonomous future' but realized the the future is already now.
I just stumbled upon a video presenting a self driving garbage truck by Volvo. The vehicle drives on a predetermined route, utilizing sensors for detecting and avoiding obstacles. Having eliminated the driver the collector of the bins walks by the vehicle without needing to get in it.
I imagine that the next step will be making autonomous self driving bins that can 'meet' the garbage truck without human help.
Employee -less shops is another are that is becoming popular. Alibaba has matched this with face recognition (which is wide spread in China) in a new brand of supermarkets.
Btw China also unveiled the first high-speed driverless train.
All this make 'modern' Norway seem so archaic, with its train delays because of snow(!) and the supermarkets that often look like warehouses from the 90s..
I prefer these a thousand times more than I do with autonomous garbage trucks and salesmen free shops like China has. Such tech will take even the least humanity drop that we have for this century.
I hope a middle ground can be found. Using the awesomeness of emerging new technologies without totally dehumanizing everyday life.
Of course if one is used to the poor customer service available in Norway then employee-less shops wont be much of a difference 😁
I guess you haven't seen poor customer service yet :))