[ahmed_7erzon]

It's crazy. The Industrial Age replaces the horse and buggy with ever-faster cars and trucks. The system allows millions of drivers, each with a different level of education and skill, to go their own way on millions of miles of roads. It mostly works, though when it doesn't, mistakes often are catastrophic. For more than half the history of the automobile, engineers have been working on a solution by advancing the science of cars that drive themselves for you.


The time for autonomous car technology is now, says Jim Hall, principal of 2953 Analytics, and a frequent jurist on Motor Trend's Car of the Year panel. Autonomous cars will hit the streets before the decade is out, he adds.

"The first autonomous cars will be taxicabs," Hall explains. "Welcome to Johnny Cab."

Imagine automated taxicabs whisking you around New York City or San Francisco. They'll take the most efficient routes, and presumably won't be programmed to take unnecessary detours and overcharge your credit card.

"The technology already is here," Hall notes. Drivers' parallel-parking acumen has been on the decline for years, and Ford and Toyota's self-parking systems threaten to make it a lost art. Mercedes vehicles steer themselves to keep you in your lane. Volvos hit the brakes for you. The latest night-vision technology uses heat sensors to detect other beings in your path.

Hall doesn't like it one bit. "It's a perfect example of technology progressing beyond the control of people who care about such stuff."

The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, founded in 1958 to address the Soviet Sputnik challenge-it also takes credit for inventing the Internet-held autonomous car challenges from 2005 to 2008. Last year, Google began experimenting with autonomous Toyota Prii for its Google Maps.