In the tech industry there’s always a “next big thing” on the horizon that’s going to change everything. It happens so often there’s a name for this syndrome. It’s called “disruption.”

The next big disruption that everyone’s talking about is driverless cars. While we don’t know when a driverless car is actually going to pull up outside your house – or whether anyone is going to have the courage to get in it – the funny thing is that, thanks to a much quieter revolution, we already have pilotless planes.

You probably won’t be getting on a flight to New York on a pilotless plane any time soon, but Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – or UAV’s as they’ve come to be known – are hard at work on military and commercial flights.

Here in Acadiana, DaCoda Bartles is at the forefront of the UAV industry.

DaCoda’s company, Aerobotics, is an aerial camera company. Aerobotics’ aircraft buzz around checking on everything from oil rigs in the gulf to wildlife in the swamp.

There is one kind of car that will probably never be driverless. A race car. Motorsports wouldn’t be quite the same if the driver was sitting at the side of the track, or even in another city, driving the car by remote control.

Motorsports is one of the most popular, most costly, and most highly rewarded sports in the world because race car drivers are so highly skilled. And daring. Unlike most other sports, a race car driver’s life is on the line every second.

You can count the race car drivers in Acadiana on one hand. And you can count the female race car drivers on one finger. Her name is Sarah Montgomery.

Sarah drives a Mazda MX5 Global Cup Car, and she’s a race winning and award winning driver. 

On this edition of Out to Lunch, Aileen Bennett notes that DaCoda’s aircraft hsa been unmanned by technology, but Sarah’s race car has been unmanned by a woman.

Photos at Cafe Vermilionville by Gwen Aucoin.