Imagine a world with cars that can drive by themselves; how easy everything would be! Now imagine everything else that must come with this new technology; society would need new laws, economy would need more money, and what would happen to the people? How would the people change? How much would this new technology affect our already-dependent-on-technology society?

The public distribution of driverless cars would cause a large-scale reformation of many aspects of society. This would include not only the cars themselves, but also laws, roads, and the minds of the people. As explained in paragraph 9, laws would have to change to accomodate these driverless cars, and to "cover liability in case of an accident." The process of making new laws will forcefully change how people think about certain situations, such as insurance. The making of new roads might come about, also, because the option of smarter roads is open; the roads worked "surprisingly well." This will also change our society and the mind processing of individuals, as they will become less independent.

Another characteristic of people wit driverless cars that will change is their ability to stay alert and focused. In paragraph 8, the passage explains that one way to battle boredom for the passengers aboard the car is to provide entertainment and information systems that will automatically turn off if the need for custom navigation arises. However, although this is an innovative idea, suddenly turning off the systems will leave passengers confused and perhaps angry, and neither of these reactions will keep the possible driver alert and focused enough to get the car out of danger quickly. The systems will be distracting and will linger in the minds of the passengers, which can be unsafe when the driver must take control immediately after being interrupted from his favorite television show. If the car then crashes, we must ask why it would have happened, if the systems were supposedly so safe and foolproof.

Other questions we would have to ask ourselves concern the costs of introducing driverless cars into society. In paragraph one, Sergey Brin says that these cars would "use half the fuel of today's taxis." However, this decrease in expenses cannot combat the larger amount of sums due to several aspects. For example, building enough cars to release to the public would be quite costly; in paragraph 6, Sebastian Thrun says that some technology to build the driverless cars used to cost two hundred million dollars, and "it wasn't something you could buy at Radio Shack." The process of building these cars and getting them on the road could be very long and very expensive, throwing the United States into even greater debt. Another problem would be insurance. Paragraph 9 says, "Even if traffic laws change, new laws will be needed in order to cover liability in the case of an accident...who is at fault -- the driver of the manufacturer?" This event could lead to a court case, and buying more insurance to cover more needs: none of which comes at an easy price.

"Automakers are continuing their work on the assumption that the problems ahead will be solved." This excerpt from paragraph 10 shows that automakers are merely assuming that they can surpass any obstacle and fix everything. However, we must consider what might happen if these problems can not be solved. The costs spent on creating these cars would have been for almost nothing, and society will have to reluctantly ease back into the "old ways," disappointed, thinking about what they could have had. It will be better in the long run to prevent the completion of driverless cars at this moment in time, when society and economy are not quite ready for it yet. It is an easy future we must be prepared for, but also look forward to.