Thoughts on Smart Cars and Autonomous Consciousness [Editor’s Column]

Recently, with the crazy and incredible development of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven smart cars, whether smart cars could have autonomous consciousness catches our attention—the ultimate topic for us to explore the secrets of the universe. Here, the essence is whether matter could generate consciousness under certain conditions or, more specifically, in the smart cars area, whether AI and other coming advanced technologies could make autonomous consciousness out of a bunch of silicon wafers with the blessing of large-scale neuronal computing.