This is now the second time in several months I've found myself writing about the prospect of self-driving cars in this country. It would seem redundant to rewrite about a whole subject I have already covered but I do this now because in that short time the progress and prospect of this industry has already stretched into territory far greater than I, or likely anyone, could have imagined.

Only a year ago when telling others about self-driving I was met with less than enthusiastic views. One person I talked to told me it would never take hold in a place like America simply because, "We would never allow our fate to be put into the hands of machines." Until now, it has been viewed as an oddity, a scary and impracticable idea whose success would be akin to the way hover cars have panned out in the U.S.

But in such little time the idea has grown in vast leaps and bounds. The societal and cultural impact that many thought was decades away is creeping up on us faster than thought possible. We are hardly a couple years away from the greatest change in transportation since the car itself.

Many, including myself, had imagined that this could become our generation's version of the Model-T, and in the short time since, this vision has already been realized in prophetic fashion. Echoing America's own past in the days of Henry Ford, the Ford Motor Company has announced that it will create a fleet of self-driving cars for commercial use, to work toward, "changing the way the world moves once again". They are far from the only car company gearing up for the introduction of this technology and meanwhile, self-driving Uber's (taxis) are already being openly tested on the roads of Pittsburgh with average citizens allowed to hitch a ride all throughout the city.

And now something which many had not supposed would happen for quite some time, if ever, has occurred. The U.S. government has gotten behind the idea and become a supporter of the push into an age of self-driving vehicles. The federal government has created a policy to regulate self-driving vehicles which includes 15 different points, ranging from protecting people's privacy in terms of the data collected by the car, to making sure it can function in an emergency/crash situation. Though it will likely create some issues for the car companies in the short term what it really has done is cemented the idea into the public's imagination and laid out an American blueprint for the self-driving cars integration into the modern world.

In the blink of an eye, big business and the federal government have gotten behind what could only have been considered wild science fiction only a few short years ago. But I would also like to take a moment to contemplate what this means culturally. No doubt there will be a serious amount of controversy and dilemma on the horizon that will effect our country and culture in ways no one can yet foresee, specifically when dealing with what has been the biggest moral dilemma in this industry's short history. This deals with the ethical dilemma of whether in a crash situation the self-driving car focuses on the safety of the passengers or the other cars and lives around it that are potentially threatened by the crash as well. If the car has to choose between swerving of a cliff or swerving into a person what does it choose? The answer to this question will likely be of great importance not just for the car companies, but for our country's moral standards and identity.

We must also address what this will do to culture and an American identity that has developed through our love of cars and driving. When men like Ford first created cars for the masses more than 100 years ago he envisioned it as a way to free Americans and allow them to explore the wide spaces of there country. It would offer a brand new form of independence for people and promote American values. This is all true in a sense but in many ways this vision slowly backfired as it led to more people in the cities, congested towns, pollution, the spread of bootlegging during prohibition, and a lifestyle for many that felt more like living as an automaton than the traditional independent American. Which is clearly not what Ford had hoped for.

So it can only be wondered what sort of effect this device will have. Yes, it is being made to make roads safer, save the population of our country billions of hours lost in time spent commuting each year and to make getting around easier for all forms of people. But what will its side effects be? This will likely become a major staple in what it meant to live in the 2010s and 2020s, so is this removal of navigation in our lives going to be a step toward utopia or dystopia? Only time will tell, but we must recognize that this time is approaching awfully fast.