The chief of Daimler, Dieter Zetsche (see picture), has announced that cars which drive autonomously will be here around the end of this century. Reports coming in from insiders, are indeed more optimistic. It is said, that already today, a car can approach a city, either via the motorway or on country roads, and can manage, even when things get tight and unexpected occurences threaten.

This system, up to 40 or 60 km/h, can already be had, however only in a tailback and if there is another car up front. If the tailback dissolves, the system gives an urgent warning to the driver, to take over the driving again. The car shown in the above picture however, has a boot stuffed full of electronics, which degrades the test-driver to being an supervisor. Here, all the knowledge is integrated, which has been gathered over decades of autonomous driving tests.

This can only be described as amazing, that someone can sit, most of the time, quite relaxed, behind the wheel, while the car itself masters one critical situation after the other. Ok, at the moment, control-monitors are still necessary, indeed, the fact that it's fundamentally possible, is being proved right now. For a long time now, we've been hearing about aircraft, that can take off and land by themselves. Indeed, who would seriously even think about doing away with one or even both pilots.

It suddenly seems to be possible, after entering your destination from the passenger seat, to make yourself comfortable, either in the front or the back-seat and after a short nap, to arrive at the office quite refreshed, regardless of whether you're an employee or the boss. Perhaps certain trips can be planned, like the German Federal Chancellor does, to make sure, that all in all, one can be sure of arriving refreshed and rested.

The time will come, when learner-drivers will have to complete a mandatory course in an autonomous vehicle, to learn just what can be done to minimise the danger in a critical situation. Indeed, also to learn that any 'road-rage' reactions are uncalled for, after all, you can't make a computer angry. However, to calm you down again: At the moment, completely autonomous cars are not allowed.

Of course, not only is the luggage compartment full of equipment, there are also more sensors than usual all around the vehicle as well. The software always needs the images from two cameras, to be able to 'see' a spatial picture. In addition, at the moment, probably not every stretch of road can be driven autonomously, because apparently, the navigational software still needs additional information. .

Perhaps the Daimler-chief, Zetsche is right after all, perhaps it will still take some time, before we can simply send the car to the bus-station to pick someone up. It may possible earlier, to reduce some of the stress in parking lots. In the meantime, there will certainly be partial-systems, which will make driving safer. Apart from anything else, the car manufacturers still want to exploit the very lucrative business of selling the assistants as 'optional extras'. 09/13