How artificial intelligence is changing our lives

Or drive your car. Vehicles that pilot themselves and leave humans as passive passengers are already being road-tested. "I expect it to happen," says AI expert Mr. Lindsay. One advantage, he says, tongue in cheek: A vehicle driven by AI "won't get distracted by putting on its makeup."

While Google's Janin rides in a self-driving car, he doesn't talk on the phone, read his favorite blogs, or even sneak in a little catnap on the way to work – all tempting diversions. Instead, he analyzes and monitors the data derived from the car as it makes its way from his home in Santa Clara to Google's headquarters in Mountain View. "Since the car is driving for me, though, I have this relaxed, stress-free feeling about being in stop-and-go traffic," he says. "Time just seems to go by faster."

Cars that drive themselves, once the stuff of science fiction, may be in garages relatively soon. A report by the consulting firm KPMG and the Center for Automotive Research, a nonprofit group in Michigan, predicts that autonomous cars will make their debut by 2019.

Google's self-driving cars, a fleet of about a dozen, are the most widely known. But many big automotive manufac-turers, including Ford, Audi, Honda, and Toyota, are also investing heavily in autonomous vehicles.

At Google, the vehicles are fitted with a complex system of scanners, radars, lasers, GPS devices, cameras, and software. Before a test run, a person must manually drive the desired route and create a detailed map of the road's lanes, traffic signals, and other objects. The information is then downloaded into the vehicle's integrated software. When the car is switched to auto drive, the equipment monitors the roadway and sends the data back to the computer. The software makes the necessary speed and steering adjustments. Drivers can always take over if necessary; but in the nearly two years since the program was launched, the cars have logged more than 300,000 miles without an incident.

While it remains uncertain how quickly the public will embrace self-driving vehicles – what happens when one does malfunction? – the authors of the KPMG report make a strong case for them. They cite reduced commute times, increased productivity, and, most important, fewer accidents.

Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, earlier this year, Bill Ford, chairman of Ford Motor Company, argued that vehicles equipped with artificial intelligence are critically important. "If we do nothing, we face the prospect of 'global gridlock,' a never-ending traffic jam that wastes time, energy, and resources, and even compromises the flow of commerce and health care," he said.

Indeed, a recent study by Patcharinee Tientrakool of Columbia University in New York estimates that self-driving vehicles – ones that not only manage their own speed but commuicate intelligently with each other – could increase our highway capacity by 273 percent.

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