A patent has been awarded to Google for a service in which the tech company would dispatch an autonomous taxi to your door, which would whisk you for free to a designated destination that wants your business (a casino or a mall, say). Will things go a step further and a car be sent without your beckoning, before you know even you wanted to go out, à la Amazon’s reported shipping plans? From Frederic Lardinois at TechCrunch:

“Google may soon offer a new service that combines its advertising business with its knowledge about local transport options, taxis and – in the long run – autonomous cars. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last week granted Google a patent for arranging free (or highly discounted) transportation to an advertiser’s business location.

Here’s how it works. Say a Vegas casino really wants your business. Not only could it offer you some free coins, but if it deems the cost worthwhile (using Google’s automated algorithms, of course), it could just offer you a free taxi ride or send an autonomous car to pick you up.”