I still remember how the car industry got all excited back in 2017 about how steering wheels would soon be obsolete. Every concept car then was a living room on wheels, seats facing inwards. The self-driving revolution was imminent, they said. Well, it wasn't... but now it actually is!

Humans have a hard time with scenarios like this. If you promise them the moon in eight months, but don't end up delivering until eight years later, most will justifiably be skeptical that it's actually here — even in the face of gushing anecdotes and video evidence. That's the problem with delayed promises.

So when Jason told me Tesla's self-driving tech was finally ready and real, I was indeed skeptical. I tried FSD as late as last year, and I didn't enjoy it much. Impressive in many ways, but too jerky. Too many interventions. How much could it really have improved in nine months or so? A lot, it turns out.

We started the drive from Jason's house, and I watched him not once touch the pedals or steering wheel while we drove half an hour to the other end of town. Then repeated the feat on the way back. But that wasn't even the most impressive part. What really blew my mind was how dramatically better the fluidity of driving with FSD has become.

His new Model Y anticipated the red light with the manners of a drives-for-the-queen-level chauffeur. And the way it knew exactly how to slow down to prevent a jerky movement when taking an incline into an elevated parking lot? Sublime.

Elon, that son of a bitch, seems to have done it again! Proven everyone wrong. Proven me wrong. The self-driving dream has flipped from vaporware to credible near-term reality. All without LiDAR. AI really delivering on this one.