At a glitzy event held at Warner Bros. Studios Burbank in California, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the Cybercab: a robotic, self-driving taxi. Musk said that the vehicle, which has two seats, no steering wheel and no pedals, would be available before 2027. “I think it’s going to be a glorious future,” he told the crowd on 10 October.

Meanwhile, just a few kilometres south in Los Angeles, people are already being ferried about by autonomous vehicles operated by Waymo. It seems that the future is already here…