Nearly every major automaker now offers a hands-free driving system

Tesla offers two variations of autopilot systems for its vehicles

The standard package provides adaptive cruise control, which adjusts the vehicle's speed according to traffic conditions, and autonomous steering to maintain the car's path. The enhanced system includes automated lane changing, parking, traffic light, and stop sign controls.

The Society of Automotive Engineers sorts self-driving technology into six levels

At level 0, a vehicle cannot intervene on its own, and the driver controls all navigation. At level 3, the car operates autonomously under limited conditions, but a human can still take control. A future level 5 vehicle drives itself and lacks a steering wheel or pedals.

As of 2025, self-driving cars continue to be unavailable to consumers

These vehicles rely on radar, cameras, lidar, and advanced AI to process data and make real-time driving decisions. Companies like Waymo and Mercedes-Benz are testing autonomous cars on public roads, but challenges remain, including technical reliability issues, regulatory hurdles, and a lack of consumer trust.

Self-driving car companies like Waymo use lidar technology for navigation

By firing thousands of laser pulses in all directions, lidar systems construct 3D maps of a car’s surroundings, even in environments with limited lighting. The technology has also been incorporated into iPhones and the Vision Pro headset to improve camera focus.

Explore the components of autonomous vehicles controls

A suite of cutting-edge hardware and computation-intensive software creates the potential for self-driving cars to be safer, more fuel-efficient, and more accessible to a broader range of drivers. However, automation also introduces potential cybersecurity threats.

There is no clear national standard of laws for autonomous vehicle

Some US states allow self-driving vehicles to operate without a human driver present, while others require a licensed driver to be behind the wheel. As of January 2023, a total of 21 states have legalized autonomous vehicles in public, with six focused solely on semi-trucks.

Self-driving vehicles have the potential to cut ride costs by 40-50% and eliminate thousands of road deaths

Author Andrew Miller argues that widespread adoption of self-driving vehicles is no longer a distant promise, as Waymo expands into over 15 cities. However, he warns the technology's biggest remaining hurdles are political: liability, labor, and whether cities embrace or resist the shift.

Explore the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's guide to automated cars

This page provides answers to questions on topics ranging from liability for crashes involving autonomous cars to the safety benefits of these cars. A timeline of the evolution of automated safety technologies is also provided.

Today's cars use turbocharged hybrid engines and AI-assisted technologies

In addition to enhanced speed, serious accidents and technological advances have led to major innovations, leading to more aerodynamic and more protective cars.

The aviation industry built trust in automation by keeping pilots in the cockpit

Nearly 70% of Americans feel uncomfortable riding in a driverless car, and 81% of them would not fly on a pilotless plane. However, automated systems on planes were slowly introduced and advertised as enhancing safety—an approach that may benefit driverless vehicles.

Self-driving formula cars race in the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League

The league and high-speed versions of traditional cars help to showcase the capabilities of driverless vehicles and the reliability of their AI systems. Leonardo da Vinci first imagined the idea for such machines in the 16th century.

Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems provide motor sounds in electric vehicles

Since 2019, various global standards have set requirements for these systems, which seek to mimic combustion-engine sounds by meeting specific sonic criteria, including sound pressure, frequency, and pitch. Sound engineers design these systems to meet these requirements, ensuring that passers-by, particularly the blind and visually impaired, can detect the presence of a vehicle.

Honda and Yamaha have developed motorcycles with self-balancing systems

Honda's "Riding Assist Technology" was introduced in 2017 and maintains the motorcycle's stability by leaning away from the direction of the front wheel and adjusting the front fork's angle at low speeds. Yamaha's system uses actuators to achieve balance during stops and starts.

Microsoft has integrated AI across its software products with Copilot

It utilizes an underlying model from OpenAI—makers of ChatGPT—to assist users in creating documents, writing code, locating files, and more across Windows, Microsoft 365, Bing search and WhatsApp on desktop and mobile devices. Copilot Voice and Vision offer accessibility features for users who prefer not to use mouse/keyboard navigation.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Five surprising things your GPS can do

You’d be surprised at all the things that GPS—the global positioning system that underlies all of modern navigation—can do. Here's a quick breakdown.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Car touchscreen debuted on 1986 Buick Riviera, but flopped

Preceding car infotainment centers by decades, the technology that was unveiled in the Buick elicited praise from auto journalists, but consumers did not make investments in the cars.

Agentic AI systems can proactively achieve user goals without user direction

Unlike large language models, which do not take follow-up actions after generating their output, agentic AI uses an initial prompt to take multiple steps, learn from its environment and outcomes, and continue working without follow-up human prompting.

Using brain implants to restore vision

Several companies are attempting to create brain-computer interfaces that skip over retinas and optic nerves to allow visual input to go straight to the brain, potentially restoring some sight to the blind. Clinical trial findings suggest restored sight is sparse and manifests differently than a sighted person might expect, appearing as specks of "light" clusters called phosphenes to help differentiate one's surroundings.

Driver education was largely removed from public schools in the 1990s

Maintaining fleets of cars proved too expensive for many school districts, relegating driver education to private classes taken outside of school.

Watch a goldfish drive a car

Dutch engineer Thomas de Wolf created a car for a goldfish, or a water tank on wheels that is directed by the movements of the creature inside it. Using a motion-sensing camera, when Blub the fish moves to one side of the tank, the camera moves in the same direction.

Why cows are loving their new robot caretakers

Autonomous robots are transforming dairy farming by letting cows choose when to be milked or cleaned. Dairy robot manufacturer Lely says this ability to decide reduces a cow's stress and increases milk production. The robot systems are costly, but are marketed as increasing efficiency for dairy farmers. And the cows appear to love them.

How humans breathe without thinking about it

We breathe without thinking about it thanks to the body’s respiratory system and autonomic nervous system, which controls vital functions. Breathing transports oxygen to the body’s cells to keep them working and clears the body of carbon...

Some employers are using new technology to surveil remote workers

'Bossware' tools help employers make sure their remote workers aren't slacking off on the job, using surveillance technology to monitor employee computer activity and more.

Alternatives to polygraphs, which correctly identify innocent people only 57% of the time

Lie detector polygraphs have been standard in law enforcement for a century despite being based in unproven science. Researchers are exploring brain-scanning and eye-tracking alternatives, though some suggest there's no reliable lie-detection process at all.

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Researchers believe the brain consolidates memories, processes emotions, and plans for the future during dream states

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

While the sun's gravity keeps the planets in orbit, their gravity also pulls on the sun, causing it and everything else in the solar system to orbit around a mutual balance point called the barycenter—the true center of the solar system.

Learn how monoclonal antibodies, which mimic the body's antibodies, can fight diseases like Ebola.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.