These days, the airwaves are filled with commercials for cars that do the driving—or at least some of it—for you. Could this be, at least in part, an answer to the perpetual problem of what to do about the waning skills of senior drivers?
Some models of Lincoln and Lexus, for instance, will parallel park themselves. Mercedes Benz offers a system that can sense when a driver is getting drowsy by monitoring steering angles. When the driver nods off, the car emits an audible warning and activates a dashboard icon in the shape of an espresso cup that says "time for a break." And Volkswagen is looking into a "temporary auto pilot" system that will use monitors, cameras and scanners to monitor and manage the position of a vehicle.
(Data are for the U.S.)