Vehicles that transport people using artificial intelligence are on course to become a frequent sight on our roads.
But if they are thrust into the mass market and prove popular, an expert has warned they will wreak havoc on the global economy.
Professor in Computer Engineering, Dr Subhash Kak, believes a third of jobs will be lost soon after their introduction.
It comes after his bombshell prediction, given to this website, that AI will "sink the world into unemployed despair" in a hellish "dystopia", because humans will be put out of work.
And now he has revealed self-driving vehicles are going to accelerate that process at a terrifying speed.
Asked how close we are to humans being replaced in the workplace, Dr Kak exclusively told Daily Star Online: "I think we are nearly there.
"For example, it has been estimated that one third of the people in any advanced economy are engaged in transportation.
"Their jobs will be gone as soon as self-driving cars are widely adopted.
"Why would professors like me be needed if the lectures of the best instructor in the world are recorded and made available on the Internet?
"Department stores are closing because they can't compete with Amazon where the orders are filled by robots in the warehouse."
Last year transport secretary Chris Grayling announced self-driving cars will "soon" be tested on Brit roads ahead of their introduction to the mass market.
Reports also emerged that AI-driver lorries are in the works, with a three-truck platoon moving in a convoy set for trial at the end of the year.
But Dr Kak predicts a world where robots render humans unable to work at all, because machines will do them at a cheaper price and work longer hours without getting tired.
He previously told us: "The beginnings of the dystopia are already there.
"There will be massive unemployment. People want to be useful and work provides meaning, and so the world will sink into despair.
"Policy makers have begun to speak of a minimum guaranteed income with everyone provided food, shelter, and a smart phone, and that will not address the heart of the problem."
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