The curious incident of the robocar in the night-time

Actual self-driving cars-with no one behind the wheel-will enter commercial service in 2018. You may now exhale. Yes, it's true, but here's the caveat: The service will be severely circumscribed. At most, we'll see robocars serving as taxis in certain well-mapped suburbs. At least, we'll see passenger-free robocars that reposition themselves by night so that commuters can have access to them come morning. But that's still what experts call Level 4 autonomy. Here's the hierarchy: At Level 5, a car can do it all. At Level 4, the car does it all only in certain areas, under certain conditions. At Level 3, drivers must be prepared to take control after a 10-second warning. At Level 2, they must pay attention all the time. Level 1 helps with the braking. Level 0 has power windows.