ABSTRACT
Marc Weber makes a cunning opening argument on his brief history of autonomous vehicles: the journey of autonomous vehicles began with the magic carpets that populated Middle Eastern folk tales, which not only were driverless but also flew. As imagery goes, the freedom of doing whatever one wants, from sleeping to working to making love, while being driven by an autonomous vehicle, still populates tech magazines, as if this was the highest differential of driverless cars. Guided driverless vehicles are becoming relatively common. The key difference with driverless cars is that the automotive industry will be heavily based on providing services, not commodities. Electric car and driverless car companies have been joining forces, such as Google and Toyota Prius's teams, in the development of Pribot. Driverless cars also promise to relieve us of the burden of driving in congested streets.
