But even driving is going to have a massive impact, beyond just trucking. That will be the first to get hit, but then you hit the taxi services. And then the big hit - the entire auto industry.
How many people are going to decide they don't need to buy a new car, they can just sell their old one and have a fleet pick them up and drive them to work. Driving as a subscription. Then you lose car dealerships, and car manufacturing jobs, because we'll need fewer cars. Parking lots will become less necessary as the cars can just continuously drive around anticipating the next customer.
Of course, that is all assuming full autonomy, which I think we are still pretty far away from.
Car dealerships should have been disinter-mediated long ago. In my opinion, they add no value to the process of purchasing a car/truck; except for unnecessarily driving up the price. If i want expertise on which to buy, i wouldn't want the person whose incentive it is to get me into their most expensive car...i want advice from a neutral third-party who knows cars/trucks. I'm not an expert on capitalism, but it seems to me, that car dealerships - at least in this modern era - have been held up to exist in such an artificial way, which distorts pricing for me as a consumer. If car dealers failed to exist, yes, i would feel bad for the low-level car salespeople who now have to find another, different livelihood...but honestly, isn't this like trying to keep the jobs of the telegraph operators in our information age? Car dealerships should be left to go extinct.
I used to agree with you but there are several points where you're flat-out wrong.
> they add no value to the process of purchasing a car/truck
Unless you get a new salesman they typically are experts on the cars themselves. Yes there are exceptions but especially if you're shopping at higher end dealerships (think Audi and higher, basically) they're going to know everything about the car and be able to tell you exactly what model fits your needs.
> the person whose incentive it is to get me into their most expensive car
Car salesmen are paid on gross, and the dealership's profit on a $120,000 7-series is not going to be twice the profit as a $60,000 M2. In fact, highest gross is on used vehicles, and those are the hardest to price shop since every one is different.
> car dealerships have been held up to exist in such an artificial way
That depends on your definition of artificial. Audi isn't allowed to sell me a new Q3, by law. If you change the law and get rid of dealerships, guess what happens? Audis are now available at MSRP only. No haggling, no getting a good deal because something's been on the lot and is a prior year model.
The part you don't mention is the used car market. What happens to that when dealerships disappear? You can buy one from a private owner but then you get no warranty at all and you have to trust that they're not trying to screw you. I hesitate to draw a finance comparison, but don't dealerships offer some form of liquidity to the used car market? Audi corporate does not want to manage the trade in inventory. Won't the value of trade ins (and therefore used cars) drop like a rock at that point?
Tesla has showrooms. Tesla has service centers. They offer financing. I'm not a fan of car dealerships and spend as little time as possible in one when I buy a car. But there isn't a whole lot of evidence that if I started buying cars directly from the manufacturer, that car costs would be drastically reduced.
It's a real mix. Higher end malls in growing urban areas, in particular, are doing pretty well. Low end malls with bankrupt anchor stores in more stagnant areas, not so much. Within probably a 30-45 minute radius of where I live, there are malls and shopping centers that are always packed and ones that look about ready to close down.
How many people are going to decide they don't need to buy a new car, they can just sell their old one and have a fleet pick them up and drive them to work. Driving as a subscription. Then you lose car dealerships, and car manufacturing jobs, because we'll need fewer cars. Parking lots will become less necessary as the cars can just continuously drive around anticipating the next customer.
Of course, that is all assuming full autonomy, which I think we are still pretty far away from.