And despite Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt's hope that "self-driving cars should become the predominant mode of transportation in our lifetime", it could be that even a small risk could be too much for some people to be comfortable removing the driver completely.

BBC: Will driverless cars mean computer crashes?

In summary, here is where we are in America today: We are solely responsible for handling our most complex financial matters, such as providing for our retirement security- for reviewing every prospectus of every fund or stock in which we invest over our lifetime (before we invest)- yet we cannot fully comprehend even the smallest financial events of our daily lives, such as our phone bill.

FORBES: Pension Consultant Shenanigans (September 4, 2004 )