Cars of the future

Slashdot had a story today about "Self-Navigating Vehicles". The article referenced goes into some details about cars that will drive themselves in the future. I've already covered some of this in my rant agains PRT. It covers some of the details about what needs to happen before we get there, and what progress we've already made.

One thing that really needs to happen is the ability to "drive by wire". Right now most stearing is still mechanical linkages assisted by a power-stearing unit. The same can be said for both breaks and accellerator. These are begining to change, especially in the newer hybrid vehicles, though it will still be some time before they are as common as, say, anti-lock breaks.

And I have to say that I'm all for such systems. The privacy concerns around the system will be a hard to work through, but I like the technology. Since I drive to work everyday instead of bussing (bussing from my new house takes 3x as long as driving due to transfers), this sort of thing is really appealing. I may yet get it before I retire.