On my 16th birthday, I got my license. Hello, freedom. To pass the test I had to parallel park, and it is still one of the things I do best. Afterward I was proud. I picked up a friend and drove us to the beach. With Google cars, there is nothing to learn, nothing to master. This car fosters passivity, nurtures infancy. It has no driver, only passengers.

Over the years, I have grown to feel that the greatest thing about driving is that, if I really need to get somewhere or really need to get away from somewhere, I can do it. Essential to that sense of security and power is that I am actually doing the driving. Now I imagine running out, jumping into the car, and having to call tech support.

Suppose O. J. Simpson hadn’t been in an S.U.V.? Suppose he was heading down the freeway in a Google car? Could Google have stopped it?

According to news reports, the cars don’t drive independently yet. Two Google employees monitor the cars, ready to take over at any time. Edward Snowden claimed in his NBC interview with Brian Williams that the United States government can turn your cellphone on and off and listen in. If the government can do that, will it also be able to turn your car off and on? Apparently so, because Google can do that while it tests it. Can the company eavesdrop on your car talk? Run you into a wall or over a cliff? Can Google have your car take you to the police station? Good? Or goodbye to the open road. To Jack Kerouac, Route 66 and all that.

Think about it this way. Your parents could put “parental controls” on the Google car. Travel more than four blocks from home and it will turn around and bring you back. This car gives helicopter parenting a whole new frontier.