Driverless vehicles look set to become the norm by the end of the 21st century.

As someone who hates driving, the idea of being able to climb into a vehicle, type in the destination and lie back listening to the radio or reading a book until I arrive sounds like heaven.

The theory goes that it will also reduce road accidents by eliminating speeding, human error and deploying technology such as autonomous braking.

I like to imagine it as a sort of Herbie-meets-Blade Runner science fiction future.

In reality, it probably won't be quite as simple as getting in your vehicle and being driven around. Drivers need to be seated in the driver’s seat at all times, adhering to the laws of the road, whilst being capable of taking over immediate manual control, in the event of a technology failure or other emergency.

So perhaps we should be worried that a survey published today found that more than one in five young drivers believe driverless technology will enable them to consume as much alcohol as they want behind the wheel while a quarter anticipate being able to catch 40 winks while their robot driver is in control.

Given that another poll earlier this week found 57 per cent of all drivers believe they are "in control as normal" while using mobile phones while driving, it is easy to foresee a lot of drivers will see autonomous technology as an opportunity to indulge even more in the reckless behaviours they already do.

Recent forecasts predict one in seven cars will feature highly automated features by 2030.

On Monday, Chongqing Changan Automobile Co – Ford's automotive partner in China – announced its self-driving car had completed a 1,200-mile road trip to Beijing in six days, in a major step towards the manufacturer's target of developing a highly-automated vehicle by 2020.

Of course, the race to develop safe, effective and commercially viable robotic technology in cars is just one strand of the move toward mass automation.

An Oxford University paper in 2014 predicted around half the entire labour force in the US is at risk of being replaced by machines in future.

In the transport industry, driverless trains are already the norm on dozens of underground networks worldwide including the Copenhagen Metro, Vancouver Skytrain and Dubai Metro.

Scotland's only underground system, the Glasgow Subway, is also in the process of shifting to driverless trains, though they are likely to be staffed in some way.

It is easy to understand the commercial imperative for companies of cutting not just their workforce costs but the financial costs of human error – fatal crashes have a terrible impact on a company's stock price after all.

Sectors which struggle with recruitment and retention – we are struggling with a shortage of both bus drivers and hauliers – would no longer have to worry.

Driverless "platoons" of HGVs are due to be trialled in the UK for the first time this year, in Cumbria, and Canadian automated vehicles expert Paul Godsmark has previously predicted it will be "game over" for lorry drivers by 2030.

If artificial intelligence is the route we are going, though, it has to be used intelligently.

Cheaper, safer transport clearly makes sense – but I'm not so sure about mass unemployment.