Sebastian Thrun is the godfather of the autonomous car. His work for Google X – the skunkworks program that also created Glass – was the catalyst for the search giant's push to produce a fleet of self-driving vehicles that have racked up hundreds of thousands of miles on public roads. Thrun believes that autonomous vehicles aren't just the future of personal transportation, but the Holy Grail for road safety. By removing the most unpredictable element from the equation – the driver – commutes would be quicker, infrastructure would be maximized, and, ultimately, it could save tens of thousands of lives.