Self-driving systems for automobiles have been steadily gaining ground with Google’s autonomous Toyota Prius, along with Audi’s TTS Pikes Peak car. If this kind of progress speeds up even further, we just might be seeing fully-controlled AI cars sooner than we think. Volkswagen continues that trend with its Temporary Auto Pilot system. The prototype technology lets the car drive independently up to a speed of 80 mph. Volkswagen has made this possible by combining current automotive features such as adaptive cruise control, sensors for tracking location and other vehicles, and lane-keeping assist. So far the technology shows great promise, with the semi-automatic mode perceptively making sound judgments in maintaining safe distances from nearby vehicles, decreasing speed before a bend, as well as observing traffic rules. The system still requires the driver to continuously monitor the vehicle, so dozing off is certainly out of the question. It is possible that Volkswagen may have a production version up-and-running in a few years’ time. And while a lot of us would still prefer to have our own hands on the wheel, we could be looking at a future where cars might be driven more by computers. 



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