No matter what terminology you prefer – driverless car, autonomous vehicle, autonomous driving, self-driving car or something else – the future of human and non-human driving is a hot topic. And we kicked off 2018 with two major consumer events that had the media abuzz about it. PublicRelay analyzed traditional and social media around autonomous vehicles at both events and here are some of the interesting nuggets that we uncovered. CES hands down "wins" for sheer volume of coverage at 7X the number of articles written on the subject. Autonomous drive was among the top five products discussed at CES 2018, along with gaming products, computers, and smart home technology.

Everybody is talking about how artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the world and how it is the future of just about everything. Even communications professionals are abuzz with their desire to jump on the AI bandwagon for their media analytics. It's true; AI can be pretty impressive. It is already recommending products to consumers, catching credit card fraud, and targeting advertising with uncanny accuracy and effectiveness. Even doctors are starting to get assistance from AI in diagnosing disease through analysis of symptoms and lab results.