emergentfutures:

Could driverless cars own themselves?

Forget buying an electric-powered Tesla, sharing a Zipcar or hiring an Uber – the most disruptive force in getting from A to B on four wheels could be cars that own themselves.

Emancipated automobiles sounds like a crazy concept. But the man advocating the idea goes further: he thinks they’ll have babies.

OK, let’s briefly shift into reverse and introduce Mike Hearn.

The Zurich-based software developer is both an ex-Google engineer and one of the leading Bitcoin software developers. The virtual currency plays a key role in his scheme, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

For now, the key thing to know is that he’s not actively working on his transport-of-the-future concept, but instead offers it up as a “thought experiment” to inspire.

Full Story: BBC