August 13, 2018

 The thought of having a car that can drive itself safely while the passenger reads, watches a movie or even naps has excited some and terrified others. Many see it as a great way to have extra time while commuting to work, and others feel like it is a disaster waiting to happen. While autonomous vehicles seem to be truly on the horizon, there are many other vehicles already on the market that fall somewhere in between a fully autonomous vehicle and a non-autonomous vehicle. These systems are known as driver assistance systems, and they range anywhere from the familiar cruise control to cruise control that maintains a safe following distance and stops or active lane-keeping to keep the vehicle from drifting into other lanes.

 For a refresher, there are six levels of automation as laid out by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).