It was when light from oncoming vehicles illuminated its interior that she noticed something odd. It did not appear anyone was in it. No silhouetted head, or heads.

“What is it?” her mother asked again. “What’s going on?”

“This car. In front of me. There’s, like, no one in it.”

Her mother laughed. “Maybe it’s your aunt Winona.”

That made Wendy laugh, too. Her mother’s sister was so short that she could rarely be seen over the steering wheel. But, of course, it was not her aunt, who had given up driving years ago and currently lived in a nursing home in New Hampshire.

But this car in front of Wendy didn’t even have any visible headrests that might help obscure a short driver. She could almost make out the lights from the instrument cluster, the large touch screen in the center of the dash.

So maybe, she thought, this was one of those self-driving cars. Autonomous, they called them.

But there was still supposed to be someone behind the wheel, just in case something went wrong, wasn’t there? That was the big thing that scared her about those vehicles. You let the car do everything for you, but you were still supposed to be ready, just in case something happened that the car didn’t know how to respond to. Except, how were you to stay alert if ninety-nine percent of the time there was nothing to worry about? It’d be like those people working the airport scanners. Hour after hour, you look at X-rays of suitcases until your eyes cross, and then when a bag full of dynamite rolls past, you don’t notice it.

Wendy wondered, did some of these high-tech cars like to take a spin without a passenger? Leave the owner at home? Do some cruising, hook up with a Cougar?

Wendy chuckled to herself. Good one.

“I’m gonna pass,” Wendy said. “I gotta get a better look.”

“You be careful,” her mother said.

She waited for a straight stretch without traffic. That might give her a better look. Curiosity wasn’t her only reason for wanting to get by this car. It had been sticking strictly to the speed limit—further evidence that it was programmed to obey all the rules of the road—and Wendy had something of a lead foot. She wanted to get home.

The road ahead was clear.

“Here we go!”

She put on her blinker and shifted over into the passing lane. As she got alongside the other car, she glanced over.

She was right. There was no one behind the wheel. How insane was that? This car really was out for a joyride! Or maybe, Wendy thought, the car could be summoned by its owner. You’d send a message from your phone, start your car remotely, tell it where you were and when you wanted it to pick you—

Hello.