The dream of roads filled with fully autonomous vehicles is, in the end, about safety. Properly trained and tuned AI will take human error, like driver fatigue and DUIs, out of the equation. But despite the autonomous trucks taking to the road and ride services being rolled out in Las Vegas and the Valley of the Sun, that dream of safer, fully automated vehicles zipping around in perfect harmony is still further down the distant pike -- if it arrives at all. In the meantime, especially in new cars, drivers now operate in a kind of liminal space between "let the car drive itself" and bearing full responsibility for each action these fast-moving tons of steel take. Automated driving features can have the knock-on effect of increasing driver fatigue and distraction.

Across the street from Suzhou North, a high-speed railway station in a historic city near Shanghai, a futuristic M-shaped building easily catches the eye of anyone passing by. It houses the headquarters of the five-year-old Chinese autonomous driving startup, Momenta. Like other major Chinese cities, Suzhou, which is famous for its serene canals and classical gardens, offers subsidized offices and policy support to attract high-tech firms. It seems to have chosen well. Momenta exceeded $1 billion in valuation in two years and became one of the most-funded driving companies in China.

Future commercial developments will include dedicated drop-off and pick-up zones for autonomous ride vehicles rather than on-site parking, according to design firm Gensler. A world in which robotic ride and delivery services are commonplace is years away, but what to do if you've got big-ticket commercial real estate projects in the works now? Turns out that future is already being baked in, according to the largest U.S. architecture firm. The full impact of self-driving vehicle technology will unfold over years, but Andy Cohen, the Los Angeles-based co-CEO for design firm Gensler, is convinced it will bring the end of parking structures as we know them, require more expansive building drop-off and pickup zones and more elaborate entry lobbies. Over time it opens up opportunities to reclaim curb space dedicated to metered parking and redevelop land in prime urban spots currently taken up by gas stations.

I originally wrote and published a version of this article in September 2016. Since then, quite a bit has happened, further cementing my view that these changes are coming and that the implications will be even more substantial. I decided it was time to update this article with some additional ideas and a few changes. As I write this, Uber just announced that it just ordered 24,000 self-driving Volvos. Tesla just released an electric, long-haul tractor trailer with extraordinary technical specs (range, performance) and self-driving capabilities (UPS just preordered 125!). And, Tesla just announced what will probably be the quickest production car ever made -- perhaps the fastest. It will go zero to sixty in about the time it takes you to read zero to sixty. And, of course, it will be able to drive itself. The future is quickly becoming now.

I originally wrote and published a version of this article in September 2016. Since then, quite a bit has happened, further cementing my view that these changes are coming and that the implications will be even more substantial. I decided it was time to update this article with some additional ideas and a few changes.

I originally wrote and published a version of this article in September 2016. Since then, quite a bit has happened, further cementing my view that these changes are coming and that the implications will be even more substantial. I decided it was time to update this article with some additional ideas and a few changes.

Advancements in artificial intelligence have brought incredible changes. Increasingly, our lives are becoming automated. Many everyday tasks have already been relegated to algorithms of smart software. A staggering 70% of stock trading is fully automated, for example. This automation has resulted in massive job loss as well as resentment towards nascent AI technologies.

In the future, they say, cars will drive themselves. You'll call a roving robo-taxi, tell it where you want to go, and check out mentally in the back seat. People will be human cargo--as unengaged in the journey as a smiley-faced Amazon box awaiting delivery. Driverless vehicles are the logical conclusion of megatrends--the century-old march of automation, perfected by artificial intelligence. Carmakers and tech giants are racing to get on board. In the media, autonomous cars are no longer the answer to a question but the starting premise.

It's the fight for dominance in the burgeoning market for driverless cars -- and the service they'll provide. The gloves are coming off. There are accusations of subterfuge. On Monday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup slapped restrictions on ride-hailing giant Uber's driverless car research in a trade secrets civil lawsuit filed by archfoe Waymo, Google's autonomous car project. There are hints of criminality.

With just a tap of the turn signal, Daimler's self-driving S-Class changes lanes in dense highway traffic. The specially trained driver keeps his hands on the wheel, just in case. But he doesn't need to use his feet at all. The car keeps a safe distance from other vehicles, and accelerates and brakes automatically. What's more, the driver needn't worry about traffic tickets either, since the car can be programmed to obey speed limits at all times.