In today’s era of accelerating technological change, it would be natural for investors to anticipate the future with a mix of exuberance and caution. Consider recent advances in the automotive industry. After more than a century of reliance on one basic technology — the internal combustion engine — the combination of simultaneous development across communications, mass data storage and processing, radar, laser and camera systems, lithium-ion batteries, and electric motors stands ready to dramatically alter our existing cars and transportation systems.

For investors, such developments raise interesting questions. For example, will widespread use of both electric and autonomous vehicles — EVs and AVs — reduce the need for privately-owned vehicles? In dense urban areas, will demand for parking fall, as high utilization transportation-as-a-service replaces under-utilized private vehicles? Will arrays of charging stations largely replace existing gas stations and service