The Future Of Self-Driving Cars

The first self-driving vehicles could be available to purchase in less than 10 years, but the real revolution could come from wireless charging. "The ability [for an automobile] to take instant reactions based on information that is computerized is already realized," Dr. Satwant Kaur, author of

, told Benzinga. "Google cars have been on the road for a while. I would say this is happening much faster than we can even imagine." Google announced its self-driving car project more than

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The search engine giant now hopes that the first autonomous vehicle will be available to purchase in

years. KPMG and the Center for Automotive Research expect the first self-driving car to

by 2019, if not sooner. Nissan hopes to sell its first self-driving vehicle by 2020, but GM doesn't expect them to available

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"Beyond [the current technology], roadways will [one day] wirelessly power electric cars," said Dr. Kaur, who is often referred to as the First Lady of Emerging Technologies. "That's happening now in a limited fashion. In small sectors, wireless technology can deliver power to these vehicles."

The vehicles will be able to store some of the energy to use when it is out of range. "Today there is a great barrier," she said. "But it will happen like any other. It will come like a tsunami, and when the technology comes… It's like the Internet. It was restricted to [myself] and my friends. Then it came like a storm, like a tornado, like a tsunami." The bottom line, Dr. Kaur added, is that the value that these potential technologies provide "will crush any barrier that comes its way." Disclosure: