Challenges Are Opportunities

As you are certainly well-aware, we are pretty passionate about technology and the environment over here at Relish, so when we came across this recent article about some of the upcoming infrastructure and lifestyle challenges our metropolitan areas will face as we move to integrate electric and autonomous vehicles into our systems, our interest was piqued.

The author outlines 63 challenges metropolitan areas will face as this transition occurs and, certainly, these are only a few of the challenges we will all face as our mode of transport shifts.

What we found interesting was the tone of the article. The author (noted “futurist” authority, Thomas Frey) approaches this transition from a position of fear and doom. How can we possibly navigate this historic change and come out unscathed? We agree, some of these challenges are daunting – particularly when coupled with declining tax revenues due to the retail die-off. However, as a species, we have navigated similar (and depending upon your perspective) bigger infrastructure challenges in the past, with far fewer resources and collective knowhow.



Take the transition from horse-drawn travel to the automobile in the early 20th century. This was a tremendous shift in our systems and the ways we powered our travel. In a little over a decade, New York (and most major cities in the west) transitioned from horse-powered travel to the automobile. Yes, some jobs were lost (horse poop shoveler, for example), but others were created. We managed that transition and, given a bit of creativity and forward-thinking, we’ll manage this transition as well.