When the driver's exit nears, the car gets increasingly persistent, demanding that the driver take back control. First, the video player stops. Then a female voice intones, "Place both hands on the steering wheel and look ahead in the driving direction."
Finally, the seat starts vibrating and a driver-facing camera ensures he or she is looking at the road. The driver taps a steering wheel knob, takes control, and drives on. The experience is similar to airline pilots who grab the controls for take-off and landing but let a computer do the rest.
"These technologies exist now and the carmakers assure us they're ready to go," said Jim Travers, associate editor of autos for Consumer Reports magazine. "It's really not that far off."
Though technological innovation isn't an issue, there are many speed bumps on the road to this envisioned future. Consumers must accept the safety and reliability of such systems, governments must draft and pass legislation and the insurance industry needs to draw up guidelines to answer tricky questions such as who'd be at fault in the event of a crash.
"That's one of the biggest issues for the industry as a whole for autonomous technology," said Glen De Vos, vice president of engineering for Delphi's electronics and safety division. "The legal environment has to keep pace. Today we're at the very beginning."
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