The future of driving isn’t just about electrification. It’s about automation.

Yes, just as it seems like science-fiction to drive several hundred miles without a drop of gas – available now, of course, with the growing popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) – soon you’ll be the passenger rather than the driver of an autonomous vehicle.

Imagine one day you hop in your driverless car in the morning, and since it’s a weekday it knows you want to go to the office, unless you instruct it otherwise. When it drops you off, the vehicle goes back home instead of you paying for parking.

Or perhaps your vehicle will be part of a city’s rideshare network and picks up fares during the day, and makes you money in the process. It knows to pick you up after work, maybe after it fetches your dry cleaning, and you can nap on the way home to feel refreshed with the family over dinner.

But how, when and where truly driverless cars will be the norm is up for debate, though experts agree it’s coming “down the road” perhaps sooner than you think.

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