Volkswagen Autopilot Lets You Drive Hands-Free at 80 MPH: “Volkswagen is testing a self-driving system that lets you travel up to 80 MPH. It maneuvers the highways like a champ and even handles the stop and go of traffic jams. The temporary auto pilot technology uses adaptive cruise control, lane assist and a variety of sensors to track your speed, your location and all the cars around you. It’s a semi-automatic system so you need to continually monitor the car. You don’t have to keep your hands on the wheel, but you really shouldn’t be napping while the car is flying down the highway at 75MPH.” (via Gizmodo).
The tone of the post says that Gizmodo is enthusiastic about this development. Technological boosterism is fine, but don’t ignore that many humans are at their absolute worst when they are behind the wheel, which they will still be.
Related:
Google’s Driverless Cars Are Now Legal in Nevada: “A state bill with new rules for self-driving cars just passed, allowing Google’s fleet of hybrid vehicles to hit the road in Nevada soon. Google had been lobbying for the bill for weeks, saying they’re safer than human-driven cars.” (via Gizmodo)
