Technology is — by some economists' accounts — causing a hollowing out of middle income jobs.

Almost halfway through his coast to coast, robot-fueled journey, David Brancaccio has to heat up dinner on his car's exhaust.

Robots have come a long way — from factories and into homes — and jobs for robot makers and minders are on the upswing.

Retail is getting more and more "robotified," and where it's most evident is the self checkout kiosks at supermarkets. Retail clerks are finding themselves displaced by the machines.

An ear of corn almost derails David Brancaccio's misanthropic cross-country road trip from New York to San Francisco.

From grocery self-checkout to your home accounting software to "Godzillas" working the assembly lines, technology is fundamentally changing the American workforce.

From man's best friend to the hotel reception desk; check-in on the successful first leg of David Brancaccio's cross-country road trip from New York to San Francisco, which he's attempting to complete without any human interaction.

Technology is advancing at an exponential rate, and at that speed, computers, automation, and robots are already doing tasks most people did not believe were possible. So what does that mean for the jobs economy?

This is a Marketplace.org Reader