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"Having worked with systems my whole career, my distrust of computers runs deep."Sounds like you need to work with them more being as you still don't really understand them./Agreed with anonone

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I guess some people can't read English. I said: "I hate it when an innocent life is lost, don't get me wrong, but if someone wants to get drunk and go kill *himself*, then fine with me." Read: I hate it when an innocent life is lost, but I don't mind the person killing himself. Should I say that one more time? If you want to save innocent lives, just put the alcotest inside every car, instead of waiting for someone to get caught drunk before putting one in his. Yes, I absolutely still hate that young teenager that killed the 3 years old kid in front of her house last Halloween because he was driving retarded -- but if he had smashed in a tree and hurt only himself, I would have been VERY happy. That's what I mean. Is it so hard to understand ? There's other ways to avoid drunk driving. We don't need robots -- we already have the technology -- they're simply NOT using it!!!

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It's already happened. Refinement and commercialization is all. Note that the 2007 Grand Challenge was "the first time autonomous vehicles have interacted with both manned and unmanned vehicle traffic in an urban environment" (<a class="user" href="http://www.darpa.mil/GRANDCHALLENGE/).&quot;&gt;http://www.darpa.mil/GRANDCHALLENGE/).&lt;/a&gt;Automated taxis, deliverbots, and dramatic re-design of cars are all things which I agree will probably become realities. Having spent 4.5hrs in rush hour LA traffic, every day for 6 months (before I quit my job), all I could dream about was an automated car.As to the re-design of cars. Future cars will be multi-function. Tables will pop up from the floor for keyboard work and seats will fold flat for sleeping (similar to Honda Element back seats). Most importantly, motor vehicles will become portable offices. With wireless broadband, car offices will be nearly equivalent in features and much cheaper than commercial offices. The work office may someday just be a caravan of car offices driving around and parking in random parking lots.As to deliverbots: i want to call in my mcDonalds order and then have a motorcycle-like deliverbot come find me at a stop light, or better yet, do a hand-off at 50 mph. That would really be fast food : ) .

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whoa. sorry for the multiple posts. i didn't realize how comments get hidden at the bottom.

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Great point. This is the reason why capitalism must eventually die. In the end, there will be very few jobs, and they'll come in two varieties: 1- Human service jobs where a personal touch is needed (i.e. massages, tutoring, therapists). 2- Computer service jobs, where humans are needed to oversee and maintain the machines and software that do everything else.Buckminster Fuller argues that in a perfect utopia, there will be 100% unemployment, because all the vital work will be done for us by machines robots and things. Does this mean that everybody will sit on their hands? No. It means that we won't be working for our survival, we'll be working for other things (the greater good, artistic vision, or [more mundanely] for a little extra money to improve your lot over your neighbor's. )

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sigh... I like driving, i like my car, and to be honest, i like my american quest for more stupid things i can own. But the real truth about the matter is that things as simple as driving will meet head on with the problems of our growing population, resource dependencies, and urban sprawl.This coming century should be fun to watch...

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