( CNN ) -- Is it really possible that our century long love affair with the automobile is coming to an end ? Are we really falling out of love with our cars ? At the FutureCast debate last month the most surprising discussion of the evening focused on the crisis of our car culture . Speaker after speaker noted the younger generation 's lack of passion about cars . Some even said that young people no longer have any interest in driving . `` I think the biggest disruption we are going to see is the drop in driver 's licensing among young people , said Doug Newcomb , former editor of Road and Track Road Gear . `` I think we are really seeing a big shift in America 's love affair with the car . I talk to most young people ... they are not interested in driving . '' Part of the explanation may lie in the latest driving technology . According to Paul Nunes , Director of Research at the Accenture Institute for High Performance , automatic transmission has killed the car . Read more : From flying cars to shared vehicles . `` A lot of young people do n't have an interest in driving because they have no idea what it means to drive , '' Nunes said . The end of our love affair with cars seems to be an international phenomenon . `` In France , 30 % of Generation Y-ers do n't have a driving license , '' confirmed the Paris-based Frost & Sullivan director Jan Christensen . `` I do n't even have a driver 's license , '' confessed Jahan Khanna , the 25 year-old co-founder and CTO of the car-sharing network Sidecar . `` The interesting thing is that cars are expensive and you rarely , rarely use them , and when you do use them , you use them inefficiently and most of the time you are driving them , you are looking for a place to park , '' Khanna explained . `` So there 's no cogent reason to own a car in the way we do , '' he concluded . `` We really should re-examine what it means to own a personal vehicle . '' Read more : Would you trust a self-driving car ? Even Greg Ross , Global Director of Infotainment Strategy and Alliances at General Motors , acknowledged the problem . `` We see the trends too , '' he admitted . But what can the car industry do about it ? How can it make automobiles as seductive to young people as iPhones ? `` The iPhone is more than a phone , '' Ross explained . `` No two iPhones are very alike . They are always designed to be the way you want it to be with the things you like it to be . '' So is this how the car industry can get us to fall back in love with our cars ? To design them like iPhones , as platforms , which we can personalize according to our own taste and interests ? Read more : Transportation confronts its `` Kodak moment ''
Guests at FutureCast debated the demise of the car as private vehicle . Some pointed to decline in driving licenses held by young American . More ideas from digital tech should be incorporated into car design , said some .