Last week, while in Austin, I rode in a Waymo — a self-driving taxi. I’ve taken them several times before in San Francisco.

The experience is hard to explain. It’s surreal beyond the scope of the word. Although every ride feels easier to relinquish control, the technology never ceases to amaze me.

It’s where we’re headed.

However, the technology is threatening business like Uber and Lyft. And the traditional taxi business model will be pushed further back.

This is progress, refinement of an everyday tool.

Uber disrupted the taxi system when it first arrived. Many criticized it for this reason.

The problem wasn’t with Uber, though — it was with taxis. Uber found the flaws in the traditional system and improved on it. Taxi companies fought back, but in the wrong way. Instead of rebuilding their model and designing an app to compete, they protested and lobbied against Uber — and they’ve never recovered.

But this is different, drivers today can’t build an app to save their job. I’ve spoken about automation and AI before, and acknowledged their destructive powers on traditional jobs.

The Industrial Revolution decimated many traditional careers. But in the wake of its arrival, hundreds more were created.

And it will happen again.

Self-driving cars and similar technologies will cause powerful ripples in society. But those will quickly dissipate.

This is how our world becomes more refined.

This is progress.