Self-driving cars operate as ground-based surveillance drones collecting images and data on both drivers and the public at large, according to World Economic Forum insiders.

"The availability and resolution of imaging from satellites, drones, self-driving cars and more will continue to increase exponentially," said Sedicii Innovation CEO Rob Leslie, an agenda contributor for the 2016 World Economic Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland from Jan. 20-23. "This will drive the creation of ever more sophisticated analysis algorithms, products and companies."

In other words, the tech elite – and their partners in government – are attempting to transform the automobile from a symbol of freedom into another surveillance node in a centrally-controlled data network in which car companies, insurers and government bureaucracies track, tax and control drivers.