I was like a child waiting for Santa. I had met engineers working on autonomous vehicles, learned about the value of miles driven and the holy grail of reaching Level 5 (when a car requires no human intervention at all). Finally, at the end of a two-day trip to San Francisco, came the thrill: my first ride in a driverless car.

I was lucky: the Lincoln driving me was testing a new route. So the young engineer at Drive.ai, a Silicon Valley start-up, was visibly excited about showing off his new toy.

As we drove around Mountain View, the car behaved like the robot that it is, delivering jolts and rough turns when it encountered new situations such as a four-way intersection. With the car still learning new skills, the safety driver’s hands were never too far from the wheel and they took over control at times.