At first, it feels thrillingly new: a car pulls up without a driver and with a twirling display on its roof, inviting you to step in. Next, it feels vaguely haunted, when the car starts driving itself and the steering wheel spins around on its own. Then it feels outright terrifying, as your car heads towards a junction behind a waiting lorry, and you have visions that maybe this time it won't see it, won't stop, and you'll end up as a cautionary tale.
But, quietly – as you are driven, by nobody, across the city's streets, and your fears don't come true – you realise: maybe this is good after all. Maybe this future isn't quite so dystopian after all, even if it's easy to think of it that way.
