Some of us might remember seeing the 1993 movie Demolition Man, where a future thawed-out Sylvester Stallone is startled by the self-driving car which announces "Autodrive engaged". Perhaps one, ah, another sci-fi conceit we will never actually see, like personal helicopters or hoverboards. Recent developments suggest otherwise. I get this is going to be a form of social engineering, where in the future people will move away from having their own cars to depending on summoning self-driven cars by cell phone when they want to go somewhere. But then if the system is shut down, for whatever "emergency", people will have no way to get anywhere.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How Uber’s Autonomous Cars Will Destroy 10 Million Jobs And Reshape The Economy by 2025
By Zack Kanter | January 27, 2015

I have spent quite a bit of time lately thinking about autonomous cars, and I wanted to summarize my current thoughts and predictions. Most people – experts included – seem to think that the transition to driverless vehicles will come slowly over the coming few decades, and that large hurdles exist for widespread adoption. I believe that this is significant underestimation. Autonomous cars will be commonplace by 2025 and have a near monopoly by 2030, and the sweeping change they bring will eclipse every other innovation our society has experienced.

~~~~~ CONTINUE AT: ~~~~~

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/01/27/how-ubers-autonomous-cars-will-destroy-10-million-jobs-and-reshape-the-economy-by-2025-lyft-google-zack-kanter/

See also:

Mystery Van Could Be Apple’s Entry In Effort To Develop Driverless Vehicle
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/02/03/mystery-van-could-be-apples-entry-in-effort-to-develop-self-driving-vehicle/