2. They could change the age of retirement

Will it in fact be the elderly, as opposed to the younger tech nerds, who will benefit the most from the introduction of driverless cars? One thing you can be sure of is that the technology will certainly not be starting out cheap, meaning the vehicles may well be out of reach for many road users, especially younger ones.

“The boomers all moved to the suburbs, and the suburbs don’t have good transit. When boomers get to be seniors, they will find themselves without as much driving ability and without the ability to use transit to get places,” explains Brad Templeton, who consulted on the Google car team.

“Sometimes the only alternative will be to move out of your house. If [a self-driving car] lets you keep your house rather than having to move, I think you’ll see people who aren’t necessarily early adopters go for it.”

This new found freedom could well result in ‘seniors’ choosing to stay on longer in their jobs, with retirement ages already being pushed upwards through financial need, a new way of facilitating this would fit in well with what is already a natural progression.