Temporary Auto Pilot - Take Me From The Pilot

If some science fiction author were writing about the death of driving, chances are he or she might have depicted some soulless Far Eastern car company as the instigator. While the technology behind driverless cars is impressive, it’s bittersweet that Audi came up with the Autonomous TT and now VW has created the Temporary Auto Pilot (TAP). The company says it “represents a link between today’s assistance systems and the vision of fully automatic driving.” Those current systems include intelligent cruise control and lane departure monitoring where radar, cameras and various sensors are involved. Throw in the increasingly popular (with car companies, at least) electric steering assist and most of the ingredients are there. TAP is meant to be used in “monotonous situations,” says VW, “traffic jams or sections of a route that are exceedingly speed-limited.” The feature is still in its prototype stages and at least the upshot will be fewer car accidents. But this looks like the thin end of an unexciting wedge. Meanwhile, the state of Nevada has just taken steps to make self-driving cars legal. Probably a good thing in Vegas.