Digital pioneers and hucksters have been predicting the demise of traditional car dealers for at least two decades. Soon, we have been told, buying a car will be just like buying a pair of sneakers from Vessi or a computer monitor off Amazon.

And here we go again.

I’m looking at a curious and, of course, rather self-serving prediction from an English company called the Automotive Transformation Group. Such a grand name suggests a lot of bafflegab and hocus pocus. But, regardless, some of what’s here actually makes sense.

Yes, the pandemic had many of us turning to digital platforms for work, play and consuming. Amazon and Shopify shares soared. So did Zoom and the game-maker Activision Blizzard, which has since been bought for billions by another pandemic winner, Microsoft.

Collectively, we have all become quite comfortable with online life, though not all of us like the shift. Car dealers and their manufacturers, however, have seen “auto e-commerce” shift from a pricing service where shoppers could learn about features, as they dodge brand-building promotions, to something far, far more.

It’s now possible and somewhat commonplace to complete a car purchase online, without, for many, suffering the agonizing experience of walking into a dealership and then cutting a deal in the finance manager’s office – with a shuffling, nervous salesperson on the side.

The Transformation people, who bill themselves as “the UK’s leading auto ecommerce solutions provider,” say 2022 will see online car shopping go fully mainstream – a “truly omnichannel car buying journey.”

Yes, we need to cut through the hyperbole. But technology, and our willingness to accept it in every corner of our lives, whether we like it or not, is going to make it commonplace for the car buyer to complete a purchase without seeing or talking to a human being, and without even a test drive.

This has enormous employment implications, among other thing. There will be huge reductions in the sales staff of the typical car dealer. There will be savings in human resources. They will be offset by increased costs in virtual tools – artificial intelligence platforms and content, AI chat capability and so on.

I suppose, perhaps, there will still be some sort of online meet/greet/sell interactions with low-cost personnel. Some of them, I am sure, won’t live in your city or village, but instead work out of a digital sweat shop in Moncton or Mumbai – as is the case when you are a Dell customer.

The Dell model is apt. The Transformation folks argue that retailers need to offer, most likely with their help and that of their manufacturer, a “complete end-to-end purchasing journey.” That means online and AI support from vehicle selection to financing to trade-in, “including all the necessary paperwork.”

You can expect dealers and their manufacturers to thoroughly and completely track you (if your cookies are enabled and your location setting are turned on, and such). You will receive alerts and sales pitches based strictly on your online and real-world activities and research. Your data will become their data, if it isn’t already.

Dealers and carmakers (like Tesla) are already working on allowing customers to pay with…bitcoin or Apple Pay, or through direct transfers from an established or emerging bank or credit union. You might spend $50,000 or $100,000 on a new ride as easily as you would buying a $20 book from Indigo.

We’re also going to see more pop-up stores rather than permanent bricks and mortar dealerships. There, you might find human product “guides,” but also kiosks with AI videos which will also be available online. The Transformation people envision a time when AI will be able to instantly piece together product videos from assorts bits and pieces in answer to a specific customer query. Say good-bye to the knowledgeable salesperson. Say hello some to the next Alexa.

And, of course, there will be a big role for that most irritating technological development of all, “Live Chat.” Live chat allows you to type questions for an AI server which replies, pretending to be a real person. Very modern.

The promise of this brave new digital world, for car buyers, is an experience that eliminates all the worst parts of actually buying a new car. Yes, truly. The reality will be an impersonal purchase that cuts employment for many now working in retailing. That may, in fact, be what the buying public wants.

Still, it’s easy enough to re-package and return a toaster or a pair of shoes to some online retailer. Sending back an entire car – the one you didn’t test drive and now hate — may be a little more difficult.