Look around on the road today and you'll
see lots of distracted drivers focusing on everything
except driving their cars.
We've heard so much in the news about attempts
to develop a car that drives itself,
sometimes with disastrous results.
So I went to ask Jake Fisher about it.
He runs the car testing program here
at the Consumer Reports auto test track.
Jake, I've been hearing the term self-driving cars forever.
Well, I'm really sorry to disappoint you,
there are not any self-driving cars out there
despite what you've heard.
While the auto industry is working feverishly
to develop a car that drives itself,
Jake says we are a long way from it being
readily available to us all.
There are cars that can turn the steering wheel for you,
but self-driving, I mean, autonomous cars,
that is something that is a thinking machine.
There's nothing that can do that right now.
So here's the deal.
You've got cars now that can see.
There's cameras in the car, there's radar on the car.
They can hit the brakes for you.
They could warn you-- if you're going out of your lane,
they could warn you if you're about to crash.
What do you guys call them?
Well I mean, everyone's calling them different things,
and that's why there's so much confusion about it.
I'm still excited to learn more about what's out there,
so Jake has agreed to show me some
of the most advanced technology now being built into cars.
All right, let's do this.
It won't do the driving for you, but it
can keep you out of trouble when you're behind the wheel.
Our first demo of the day, stability control.
As we approach a turn at high speed, I brace for the worst.
So watch how I turn on this corner.
Yeah.
Tires are screeching.
There was a time that maybe the tail might slide out,
maybe we'd spin.
With stability control, a computer
senses when you're starting to skid
and applies the brakes selectively
to individual wheels to help steer the vehicle where
you really want it to go but were too busy
screaming to get there.
All modern cars now do a really good job
of trying to keep control of that vehicle.
Demo number two, forward collision
warning with automatic emergency braking.
For this, Jake has a little fun at my expense.
Hey, you want to stop?
[RINGING] Whoa!
So what'd you hear right there?
I heard a bell, a whistle.
You heard a bell.
Now, I was never in any danger.
The car ahead of us is foam used on the test track
to simulate cars and to scare the life out of me.
Let's look at that again with a slow motion replay.
While I wasn't paying attention, a camera and radar
on the front of the car were, and the car alerted us
to the foam hazard ahead.
Then it quickly came to a halt using its automatic emergency
braking system.
So what I'm learning today, forward collision warning
and automatic emergency braking can be life savers.
So funny because I always thought that cameras was just
about backing up and not bumping into something,
but they scan the whole road while you're driving
to make it safer for us.
In fact, this car constantly looks around itself
with its tiny electronic eyes which
come in handy for demo number three, lane keeping assist.
Jake shows off more of the car's sensors
by veering slightly out of his lane.
Amazingly, the car says, oh, no you don't and gently
fixes his trajectory.
Just a little bit of a nudge, get me back on track.
And now it's time for the grand finale.
Demo number four, automatic steering.
To me the car looks like it's driving itself,
but Jake is quick to course correct that misconception.
This vehicle still needs a human behind the wheel.
You're not driving, I can't believe that.
I'm driving because I'm in control of what's going on.
I'm responsible about what's going on.
It's automatically steering, but it's not thinking.
There are a lot of fascinating features,
but they don't add up to a self-driving car that's
available at your local dealership yet.
So for now, it's best to stay alert, don't get distracted,
don't speed, and keep your hands on that wheel.