This Auto Analyst Is Exploring Some Very Out-There Ideas

Morgan Stanley analysts Adam Jonas published a note on Monday that as much as admitted what people who regularly follow his and his team's research might have been speculating: When it comes to their coverage area, Jonas & Co. are prepared to tackle something...a little different.

"Readers of our research may have noticed a dramatic shift in the scope and horizon of our notes over the past 12 mos.," he writes. "There is great change occurring all around us, as every aspect of the industry is being disrupted by technology."

So disrupted, in fact, that the ultimate disruption could be on the way: technology companies will start making cars - something that Google, on a small scale, is already effectively doing.

It's worth noting that this is all pretty out-there thinking, but that Jonas has been publishing research along these lines for a while. Lately, he's been suggesting that human driving could vanish.

It's also worth noting that even though Jonas warns about the days of the old-school auto analysts being numbered - unless he or she evolves to cover a host of new companies, technologies, and even concepts - the so-called "advanced mobility" community has been predicting the world that Jonas now sees as inevitable for at least the past decade.

The auto analyst could be dead, but...welcome to the brave new era of the mobility analyst!