Driverless Cars

General Motors predicts that consumers will be able to buy vehicles that drive and park themselves within a decade. The necessary technology, such as radar-based cruise control, motion sensors, lane-change warning devices, electronic stability control, and satellite-based digital mapping already exists. Stanford University computer science professor Sebastian Thrun agrees that the driverless car is a technically attainable goal, but he is unsure if the automaker will have any vehicles in its showrooms in a decade. "There's some very fundamental, basic regulations in the way of that vision in many countries," Thrun says. He notes that the technology has a long way to go, considering one vehicle in the recent Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Urban Challenge nearly charged a building and another pulled into a house carport and parked itself. The contest initially drew 35 teams, but only six completed the 60-mile course, and Thrun's team took second place.