I think it will be much more like riding in a cab with no driver. Only if you own this car it will be your driverless cab that you control via your Iphone or voice or however it is capable of communicating with you. However, I think there will be problems much like the ones we have all had that have used GPS over the years, like streets that don't exist, or don't go where the map says etc. etc. etc.. And what does this car do with that information stop in the middle of a freeway to ask for information in the middle of traffic?
First of all, GPS is NOT 100% reliable no matter what anyone tells you. So, if there is a solar storm you might want to drive the car yourself that day or not go at all if it is a very bad solar storm day. Also, what if the computer has a glitch running the car or if moisture or dust gets into it's memory chips of various sorts. I don't think you want to be 4 wheel driving in something like this in other words (at least yet).
So, if you can imagine all the problem they first had with motorcars and people and horses and buggies and then project these problems magnified on computer driven cars, you might not want to be someone riding in one of these when something goes wrong because you and every other person or animal on the road could be dead at that point.
And then, who is responsible for the damage (you) or the company who built the car? All this kind of stuff (worldwide) is going to have to be sorted out in the short and long run as well.
Also, what about the really big problems like someone loading up a driverless car with bombs or nukes and telling it where to go? For example, what if a foreign national took their driverless car across the Canadian or Mexican border and then loaded it up with bombs or nukes and told to to visit Washington DC at either the Pentagon, White House or Congress? Or what if one from Tijuana drove to the city building in Los Angeles and blew that up or Sacramento or blew up the Capitol building or something like this.
Autonomous flying drones that land on the White House lawn are only part of the worries of this Brave New World we are quickly moving into.
Just like autonomous flying, sailing or land drones this is an actual not theoretical problem now too.
In fact, what is a driverless car?
It is a land drone in action.
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