It’s been a high-speed chase for a decade now, from the embarrassment of the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge to Big Auto seeing a driverless horizon. Unless everyone in the sector has succumbed to a collective delusion, this technology, or at least an impressive portion of it, will be available sooner than later. From a report by Molly Wood of the New York Times on the autonomous dream on display at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show:

“No more dancing around it: The major automakers now see a world of completely self-driving cars.

On Monday at the International Consumer Electronics Show, the huge technology industry event in Las Vegas, Dieter Zetsche, the head of Mercedes-Benz cars and chairman of of Daimler AG, focused most of his keynote address on unveiling a fully autonomous prototype vehicle.

Dr. Zetsche described the autonomous car of the future as a sort of luxury ‘carriage’ that could provide a peaceful, relaxing oasis for riders. It was festooned with touch screens and featured a sort of floating control panel that would let any rider take control of the car.

Raj Nair, the chief technical officer and global product chief at Ford, said at the International CES that he expected some manufacturer to introduce a completely autonomous vehicle — one that requires zero human intervention — within five years.”