New technology aims to keep his hands off the wheel

The biggest obstacles to autonomous cars will be legal, not technical.

Most car enthusiasts hate the idea of ??cars that can drive. But autonomous cars will be coming in faster than you think. Slowly but surely, the cars are doing more than our guide for us. It ‘s just a matter of time before taking over completely.

Just look at what we have already ceded control to the computer under the hood. Antilock brakes, which are always better than threshold braking ordinary mortals, are practically standard. So are traction control and stability control. Now we have the blind spot detection, Lane Departure Warning, Active control lane, and even self-parking.

Now comes the next step. Mercedes-Benz and Audi recently removed demonstrated Traffic Jam Assist, which uses the adaptive cruise control and automatic guidance to take complete control of a vehicle up to 60 miles per hour (about 37 mph). Google has collected thousands of miles at least on its fleet of fully autonomous Toyota Prius hybrids on the roads of California. The technology will be ready by the end of the decade showroom.