For technology to advance, the legal and regulatory system will need to accept that driverless cars sound risky only compared with cars driven by error-prone humans.

WSJ: Crovitz: The Car of the Future Will Drive You

Over time, as driverless cars dramatically reduce human error (which is the No. 1 cause of accidents) and more people accept the concept of shared cars, the possible car designs will explode.

FORBES: Google's Trillion-Dollar Driverless Car -- Part 2: The Ripple Effects