A future with no drivers

Is this some sort of weird dream? It is, the scientists at the cutting edge of AI research would have you believe, a glimpse into the future of fully autonomous motor vehicles -- where you might still have to turn a key but you will not have to accelerate, indicate, steer or grumble about another car going too slowly. Once the stuff of wild fantasy, a world where the cars have no drivers behind the wheel -- where road deaths and injuries plummet -- is rapidly becoming more of a vision. Deloitte spokesman Scott Corwin -- the company runs a ''future of mobility team'', so keeps a keen eye on developments -- told the Financial Times this week that the automotive industry was spending massively to investigate self-driving technology, creating a ''race to win the Willy Wonka golden ticket''. Corwin predicted the roll-out of autonomous vehicles would gather pace but with ''limited market launches in pretty controlled environments''.