Then - Don't spare the horses, Jeeves
Heavy steering, double-clutching, tweaking the choke – that was driving for most motorists, even in the 1970s. The work rate was high, progress relatively slow.
OK, some cars had automatic gearboxes and power assisted steering, but it was still very much the wetware between your ears that was doing all the driving.
Now – Autonomous cars are almost here
Make no mistake: fully autonomous cars are coming and they are coming sooner than you think. For proof, observe the fact that some of us are already 'driving' semi-autonomous cars.
The autopilot feature in the Tesla Model S, for instance, sports radar, cameras, ultrasonic sensors and GPS that enable fully autononous driving in certain situations, (although the feature isn't enabled in all markets).
Self-driving features aren't the preserve of premium cars, either. Mainstream models like the Ford Focus can be had with self-parking and radar-controlled cruise capabilities, and it's only going to get more and more robot-controlled until we're all sitting in our own private chauffeur-driven vehicles.
