Next, car manufacturers replaced hydraulic powered steering with electric. As any top chef will tell you, a hot soup might burn your mouth, so it’s better to test the temperature using your finger, which is less sensitive. Electric power steering makes the road feel so numb that it’s like driving with your elbows.  All of this was before I became unemployed, of course, along with the millions of other professional drivers. I remember putting one such car through its paces and suddenly discovering that I was departing the Tarmac and heading for a tree. In the old days a gentle judder from the wheel would have signalled the loss of grip before my eyeballs turned into saucers, but not in this car with electric steering.  The funny thing about all those stars who drove the “reasonably priced car” on Top Gear was that they could feel the warnings through the steering wheel, too. Being in touch is what humans do best, unless they’re texting.  Back in 2025, I peer through my Google glasses at the Barista serving me my cortado and automatically filter his Facebook profile; his lifestyle montage proves too intimidating for me to strike up a conversation, so I take my coffee “to go”.  I walk everywhere in the city now because traffic is worse than ever. Who needs parking spaces when you can send your driverless car around the block while you do your shopping? And commuting distances have doubled, with vehicle occupants happy to zone out in their pleasure booths, watching movies or working themselves to death, seemingly losing track of time.
Autonomous cars will soon be a reality, but not everyone thinks that's a good thing. Former Top Gear Stig Ben Collins imagines a future where driving and the personal freedom that it brings have been consigned to history