As the time frame for the famous film "Planes, Trains and Automobiles"—American Thanksgiving, or the busiest travel time of the year in the US—has arrived, it is interesting to look at the shifts that are happening in transportation across North America. 

People of a certain age will recall this uproarious comedy, co-starring Canadian John Candy and Steve Martin, as they experience disaster after disaster trying to get home for Thanksgiving. Travellers can well-relate to the now-routine jammed planes, unfriendly airport experiences, clogged highways and the other humiliations and frustrations of public transportation.

Change is here, and cities in Canada and the United States are too often not anticipating the community-altering technology that is now arriving. North America is facing significant changes in travel within the next decade. The most dramatic will be the common usage of autonomous vehicles.

If you're a student at Ann Arbor's University of Michigan, your pizza order is now being delivered by an autonomous vehicle.

In Florida, a new city is being developed that will ultimately have about 50,000 residents. It will feature a driverless taxi network, autonomous pods' (designed for one or two persons), and autonomous buses.

In Colorado, a semi-trailer successfully delivered 50,000 cases of beer—no driver involved.

These states have stated clearly they are open for business and are looking forward to these new transportation opportunities. They are installing sensors and other technology necessary for steering' this next generation of vehicles.

As cities look at their future transportation plans and needs, I have a growing concern that some cities are looking at today's problems but trying to impose yesterday's solutions. They don't understand the enormous shifts in traditional transportation that are now arriving and will change the future.

The autonomous vehicles, supplemented by new electric cars and buses, will fundamentally change how people use our city streets and highways. The single biggest shift will be autonomous electric vehicles providing ride-sharing as a service. These could be cars, buses, even trucks. When you summon them to your house or office or a street corner, they will appear quickly, take you to your destination, and then beetle-off to another pick-up.

This will mean fewer vehicles on city streets, more efficient public transportation, and eventually better use of downtown public spaces—for example, surface parking lots or old-style parking garages that can be developed for housing or other public needs because very few people will actually own their own vehicles in the years ahead. 

The dramatic decline in personal vehicle ownership will free up an individual's capital (you will no longer pay $40,000 for your own car and then see it sit in a garage most of the time, depreciating at a horrifying rate) which can be used for other personal matters ranging from retirement planning to up-graded housing or new family needs.

Cities have been slow to understand and react to this tsunami of change. The simple reality is that the face of public transportation, and of private car usage and ownership, is changing. That will mean big new opportunities and challenges for municipalities. They will have to be thinking way ahead, not mired in the past. They will have to be nimble in their urban and transportation planning. They will have to be innovative in their ideas.

Billions of dollars are involved in this transportation shift. There will be losers and winners. Which one will your city be?