GM will launch self-driving car in 2008
By Barb Dybwad 
posted August 27th 2005 1:15PM
posted August 27th 2005 1:15PM
This will totally give new meaning to the term auto-pilot: GM will be launching a vehicle with an actual
self-driving system in its 2008 Opel Vectra. That's right — think KITT, people, but without the smarmy voice (well, we
assume, anyway). It will be able to pilot itself even in heavy traffic at up to 60 mph, which is more than we can say
for most of our friends, really. It'll be using lasers, a video camera and a sophisticated computer brain to recognize
signs and detect obstacles. Let's hope the OS it uses is, um, extremely stable.
[Thanks, CoreyTheGent]
This brings back the late 90s jokes about the Microsoft/GM fued over "If GM had developed technology like Microsoft..."
"1) for no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice per day.
2) Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car...."
http://www.snopes.com/humor/jokes/autos.asp
"I can't imagine the car would be allowed to drive without human interaction."
Why not, so long as it passes the DMV driving test?
If you ever watch I-Robot, this type of car might set a new standard in the future - driving your car manually is considered not safe.
Wow.... Common we are not in the movie Matrix or some future sci-fi terror flick.
All this will probably do is to enchance the cruise control.
When you put your cruise on, you still have your right foot close to the brake, right? or at least I hope so. There will definately be a button labeled with "cruise" and when you press this button the sensors and the cruise go on, you can also press the same button again and it goes off. on/off. You will not press the button and go to sleep because then, you, not the car but you have a serious problem.