Driverless

Coming Soon to a Driveway Near You

A “driverless” revolution, galvanized by advances in deep-learning artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, will unfold by the mid-21st century. Increasingly, people will entrust their safety to autonomous machines with driving awareness and perception superior to their own. This disruptive shift will affect everyone. The benefits of saved lives, decongested cities, improved air quality, enhanced mobility and increased free time will contrast with the downsides of lost transportation jobs, privacy concerns and ethical issues. The advent of affordable cars brought the masses new personal freedom in work, leisure and living locations. The “brainless” car revolution continues, with one billion autos in active use on the planet today – 250 million in the US alone. Year-to-year, automotive accidents kill almost as many people – 1.2 million worldwide – as die from war, violent crime and drug abuse combined.

Adopting driverless vehicles – which are anticipated to be demonstrably “twice as safe” as human-driven cars – would save many lives. Traditional vehicles pollute the air and clog cities. In the near future, clean, safe personal...