What has the future in store?

It's clearly still a plaything of the well heeled at that time. The elderly woman onlooker, if this is in fact The Netherlands, may well have NEVER seen anything other than horse drawn vehicles before this time.

The number plate 872 looks like russian type. May be it`s Moscow or St.Petersburg.

Who knows the history of this photo?

Editor: it's a Dutch registration number.

Whenever the reaction of people in the late 19th century and early 20th century is mentioned, the same old hackneyed phrase come out. People were 'astonished' or 'unsure', they 'marveled' at a carriage that could move 'without horses.' What piffle. These people had no doubt seen traction engines move without horses, and most would have probably traveled on a railway or seen one by 1900. They knew what these things were, and they new what was coming. They had been living in an age when the relentless march of industrialization had made their lives easier in comparison to their grandparents. Hardly surprising!
Now I've had my rank, I tend to agree with Peter Ransom, it was the social, not the technological changes that had people concerned.

From your questioning caption one answer must be: more women drivers! At a time when most vehicles were piloted by men, here is a young lady with her hand on the tiller. The lone male in the back seat is perhaps only there as insurance against breakdowns. As the vehicle has no folding top the furled umbrellas are essential. Old man? Not with a black dress that reaches the ground!

I feel the onlooker is a woman, deeply concerned by the behavior of those "fast" women. It reminds me of the expression on my mother's face when I brought home my first vintage car - over 50 years ago.