Momentum - Business to Business Online Magazine MOMENTUM FEB 2018 | Page 6

Steve Paterson
President & CEO
League City Regional Chamber
The Future Is Closer Than We Think!
Watching a webinar on autonomous transportation, the other day was a real eye
opener for me. Although, we hear about it and are exposed to new technology
every day, sometimes we do not realize the magnitude of change around us until
it just slaps in the face. We live in very interesting times right now.
The times we are living in now could be compared to the late 19th and early
20th century, where industrialization was making things we only dreamt of
possible. Things that Jules Vern the famous French science fiction writer had
written about thirty years earlier were becoming realities like automobiles,
submarines and flying machines. These were all milestones in transportation that
allowed us to travel to new places, faster, easier and were affordable. One day
2018 Board of Directors
Chairwoman, Rebecca Lilley
Memorial Hermann
Treasurer, Bix Rathburn
RPC Consulting
Secretary, Gloria Greene
EliteCare 24 Hour ER
Past Chairman, Ray Soto
Soto Financial & Insurance
2019 Incoming Chairman, Bill Provenzano
Hometown Bank of League City
we are using horse and buggies and the next we are in automobiles, planes and
high-speed trains.
Autonomous vehicles which drive, fly and sail will be here before we know it.
Major trucking and transportation companies are planning for new fleets of self-
driving trucks, ships and aircraft which are currently being developed. A new air
traffic control system is being rolled out, which will pilot flying craft from airliners
to drones and even control personal flying autonomous vehicles for everyday
person like ourselves. Rental car companies, taxi companies, bus lines and other
public and private transportation providers are working with automobile
manufacturers and other transportation manufacturers who are retooling and
reworking their manufacturing ability to move to this new autonomous business
model.
What does this mean? What we now know as parking lots will include landing
pads and charging stations as petroleum powered vehicles make way for electric
powered vehicles. Roadways will change as highspeed lanes will be created to
propel electric vehicles capable of 200 mph travel on charging rails on interstate
highways between major destination points like Dallas and Houston. Electric
powered Quad-Copters will take off from your driveway at home and fly to San
Antonio at speeds we can only think of as fantastic today. Fractional ownership of
vehicles and usage on demand will replace outright ownership.
The Houston-Galveston I-45 Innovation Interstate (i2) corridor is at the front of
this emerging technology with NASA/ JSC Space Center and the Houston
Spaceport at Ellington Field. In the not to distant future, we will be the launch
point for hypersonic airline flight from Houston to points like Tokyo where the
flight time will be less than three hours.
Elga Boeker
Houston Methodist St. John Hospital
James Brockway
Brockway Realty / Commercial
Dr. Laura Dupont
CCISD
Matthew Mathias
Clear Lake Regional Medical Center
Kalpesh Patel
Hampton Inn & Suites/Candlewood Suites
Chris Premont
Ron Carter Cadillac Hyundai Genesis
Dan Seal
BAHEP
Debbie Simmons
Anchor Point
Becky Trout-Unbehagen
UTMB Health
Rolando Villareal
Hilltop Securities
Peter Wuenschel
CIS - Bay Area
Why is this important? Just as industrialization built the great American cities of
the 20th Century, think Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburg, Cleveland and Los Angeles to
mention a few. Innovation and technology will build the great cities of the 21st
Century. Investment in innovation business ideas, workforce development to
meet those needs and infra structure to provide an environment conducive to
creativity will be necessary if cities and regions want to be competitive in the
future. However, that future is closer than we think. Who thought twelve years
ago that we could have cell phone with an app that would hails a ride from
someone we did not even know and pay for it without exchanging one
greenback.
John Baumgartner
Ex-Officio, City of League City
Amanda Fenwick
Ex-Officio, City of Clear Lake Shores
Lisa Howard
Ex-Officio, HOT Tax Board
Peggy Zahler
Ex-Officio, HOA Alliance of League City