driverless
Word family
Synonym discussion
Sense: adjective/1
These terms all describe vehicles or systems that operate without direct human control, but they differ in scope and typical usage. 'Driverless' focuses specifically on the absence of a human driver in a road vehicle — you would say 'driverless bus' or 'driverless taxi.' 'Self-driving' is the everyday term for cars that navigate roads without a person steering, often used in marketing and news headlines. 'Autonomous' is the broadest term, covering any system that makes independent decisions, from robots to spacecraft, not just vehicles. 'Unmanned' is preferred for aircraft, spacecraft, and military equipment without a crew on board. For example, engineers test driverless shuttles in city centres, but an 'unmanned aerial vehicle' (a drone) is never called driverless.
Common collocations
Etymology
Formed by adding the suffix '-less' (meaning 'without') to the noun 'driver.' The word first appeared in English in the early 1900s, used jokingly or for carriage horses. It gained serious use in the 1950s with factory trains and became common in the 2010s as companies developed self-driving road vehicles.