According to Sebastian Thrun, a scientist who spoke at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in San Francisco, the robot cars of science fiction could become reality by 2030. Thrun, an associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University, is leading the Stanford team in this year's DARPA Urban Challenge with an automated Volkswagen Passat, which will run the 60-mile urban course for a price of $1 million.

We've already seen computer-aided driving systems in luxury cars. Autonomous cruise control (ACC) and adaptive braking technologies use radar and laser detection systems to monitor conditions on the road and navigate vehicles accordingly, with little to no human intervention.

Like many innovative devices, robot vehicles will debut in the military where it would make sense to use robotic vehicles in hostile environments and situations instead of troops. Thrun predicts intelligent robot vehicles will be used in the battlefield as soon as 2015.