Maurizio Reggiani, the director of research and development for storied Italian supercar builder Lamborghini, takes in the knife-edge lines of his latest creation, the $275,000 Huracan Performante. He is pleased. "This car represents so much of what we are," says Reggiani. "We are looking to the future."

The future, these days, seems to be all about self-driving cars designed to completely detach the driver from the transportation experience. Companies ranging from Waymo, Google parent Alphabet's self-driving car arm, to Ford are touting 2021 as the beginning of a mobility revolution that will impact everything from car sales to the oil industry.