The original call
Original year: 2017
2026 assessment
Scorecard verdict: Verdict: Early
Early. The fragmentation half is clearly underway — purpose-built robotaxis, dedicated delivery pods, and last-mile city vehicles are real in 2026. But the “peloton” idea, cars electronically interlinking and traveling as a cooperative pack on the highway, is still mostly trucking pilots and lab demonstrations rather than everyday reality. The shape of the prediction is right; the timing on cooperative packs ran ahead of the world.