Artificial intelligence, artificial enhancement.

The military has always been one of the great sources of funding for tech research. Lately, DARPA has been very open about their goals, even going so far as to offer public rewards for specific technological advances. One example of this is the DARPA Grand Challenge, a race held in the Nevada desert by full sized robotic vehicles. The challenge is for an entirely automated vehicle to cross 300 miles of desert without any human intervention within a specific time limit.

Last years Grand Challenge was the first such event. Sadly, not one entrant actually finished the course last year. This year, however, no less than four vehicles made their way across the finish line. There's a really good article on Wired today about the efforts of the winning team

Also, DARPA is working on a prototype exoskeleton which will allow soldiers to pack around 200 pounds of gear, while feeling only five pounds of that. Having personally engaged in such activities as marching with a duffel bag and walking with stilts, I can only think about how much this rig must chafe.

Whatever objections you may have about the use of this technology, it is this type of integration technology which will move us one step closer to the Singularity. The article about the Grand Challenge talks about the way that commercial implementation of this technology will gradually move the driver away from the act of driving, and into the role of a navigator for the autopilot. Will there come a day when people view "human driven" cars as a hobbyists vehicle, similar to the way that manual transmission vehicles are seen by some today?