Carnegie Mellon's Boss, an autonomous Chevy Tahoe, was declared the winner in DARPA's Urban Challenge contest. (Read more background on the race at DARPA Urban Challenge For Autonomous Vehicles.)
Three robotic vehicles managed to finish the complex course set up by DARPA: first to finish was Stanford University's VW Passat, named Junior. Next to finish was Carnegie Mellon's Chevy Tahoe, Boss. A few minutes later, Virginia Tech's Ford Escape hybrid Odin crossed the line.
Scoring the race was complicated; the robotic vehicls started the race several minutes apart and each completed a different set of missions in the 60 mile race through intersections and straightways (not to mention parking!). (Take a look at some 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge Videos.)
Robert Heinlein's Camden speedster from his 1941 story Methuselah's Children doesn't seem impossibly futuristic now:
She ... claimed her speedy little ground car from the attending automaton in the basement, and set the control combination for North Shore. The car slid up the ramp, waited until the traffic control signaled a predicted break in traffic, then joined the high-speed northbound stream. Mary Risling settled back for a little nap...
She woke just before the signal from the car which would have called her...
Drosophila Robotica, The Mechanical Fly
'... the Scarab [flying robot] buzzed into the great workroom as any intruding insect might...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'- Philip E. High, 1968.
Bartendro Robot Bartender
'He sipped the cognac that the robot bartender handed him...'- Alfred Bester, 1956.
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Sky City's 220 Stories Are Go
'It rested among green parklands and... stood in total isolation, a glittering block of whites and flashing windows dotted with colors.'
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'