I don’t know. “Car” is short for carriage. Arguably, horse-drawn carriages had certain levels of autonomy. An “automobile” focuses on the automated, or mechanic

I don’t know. “Car” is short for carriage. Arguably, horse-drawn carriages had certain levels of autonomy. An “automobile” focuses on the automated, or mechanical, nature of the conveyance. These days, “auto” is usually focused on mechanical thought. I imagine that we might just collectively redefine one of our existing terms once it is not so ambiguous anymore.