Life in 2050 is largely unchanged, with two exceptions.

First, sustained high levels of investment in autonomous transport systems has paid dividends, with a steady series of technological breakthroughs. Hence, driverless refuse lorries are commonplace by 2030, albeit still with human ‘supervisors’; driverless delivery vehicles by 2032; buses and taxis by 2035; and driverless private cars by 2040 – initially on segregated motorways, but then in successive urban areas from 2045. By the end of the 2040s, there are very few areas in most developed countries still catering for drivers of non-autonomous vehicles.

Second, policies of privatization and deregulation across the economy have raised the role of the market and created an extremely competitive business environment, intolerant of underperforming companies. Government too relies heavily on applying ‘market signals’ and ‘norm entrepreneurs’ to push organizations and people to ‘do the right things’, and over time a whole series of specialized markets have been created to reduce carbon and waste, promote the efficient use of land and make people healthier. Consequently, by 2045, ‘fail fast’ culture is well established, while almost everything has been privatized and monetized to the nth degree. Tremendous energy is expended on finding the ‘next new thing’ with everything from toys, to food, to restaurants, to infrastructure, to transport systems being continually tweaked and sometimes replaced altogether, while almost every aspect of society feels in a state of constant flux.