Uber is moving quickly. The company created its Advanced Technology Center, where it’s developing its driverless cars, in February 2015 by hiring a number of researchers from the robotics department at nearby Carnegie Mellon University. Using that expertise, Uber developed its self-driving taxis in a little over a year - roughly the amount of time it takes most automakers to redesign an entertainment console.

"Your Driverless Ride Is Arriving" is from the November/December 2016 issue of MIT Technology Review.