The famed inventor, military hero and former boy scout, told CNN that advances in the use of GPS mean that the technology could not only emerge in the next few years, but is already being road tested by companies such as Google.

“I think (the future) leads to robotic cars. I think there will come a time when you go down the highway and you don’t have to have your hand on the steering wheel at all. It’ll be a combination of GPS, radar and other sensors.”