I recently spoke about autonomous vehicles at a transportation conference in Zilina, Slovakia. Most would be hard pressed to pinpoint this region on a map, and fewer yet would predict it to be a prominent forum for those looking to edge the world farther towards a truly driverless system.

However: Driverless cars are only a part - a necessary part - of this profound change in our transportation infrastructure. And this precise truth is the topic I chose to address, finding myself one of many that sensed the softening attitudes toward truly innovative and, in many ways, radical ideas - the sort that is only given heed when a general instability, or uncertainty, as to the direction of technology and history develops. I invite you to read some of the speculation I brought with myself to Slovakia, in hopes that those aforementioned softening attitudes would indeed make way for greater consideration of the driverless road. In order to get a handle on this change we may or may not b…