InnovationNewsDaily | Jeremy Hsu, Senior Writer

Ordinary Americans can't buy intelligent, self-driving cars just yet, but the technology could someday revolutionize one of the nation's most common road rituals—the morning and evening commutes that bookend the workday for millions of people.

The transformation of that bleary-eyed, coffee-chugging routine won't take place overnight — Nevada just issued the world's first license for a self-driving vehicle to Google on May 7. But the gradual switch to a hands-off driving approach promises perks including saving on gas money, faster commutes and the luxury of texting on smartphones without risking a crash.

"We've been working on this and thinking about it for the past 10 years or so," said Peter Stone, director of the Learning Agents Research Group at the University of Texas in Austin. "The point of this research is to consider the implications for having all or most of the cars on the road being autonomous."