The "Self-Driving Cars" (Autonomous Vehicles) (Episode: "The Burns Cage", 2016)

The Simpsons has earned quite the reputation for seemingly predicting the future. It’s actually a bit of a meme at this point, with fans pointing out how many things in the real world appear to have been "predicted" by the show, sometimes years in advance. While some of these predictions are purely coincidental or the result of broad satire, others do seem oddly prescient.

The "Self-Driving Cars" (Autonomous Vehicles) (Episode: "The Burns Cage", 2016)

• What happened: The episode features a quick moment where self-driving cars are shown to be commonplace.
• Reality: In the years that followed, companies like Tesla, Waymo, and Uber began testing self-driving vehicles, and the technology continues to develop as a possible game-changer for transportation, aiming to reduce human error and increase safety.