ORLANDO - The goal is a car that can drive itself, leaving the occupants to while away their time texting, reading, grooming, talking on the cellphone -- in short, all the things they do now that cause crashes and tragedy.
The technology for a fully automated car will be on display in Orlando this fall, and supporters say it's closer to reality than most might imagine.
"That's our long-term vision," said Nady Boules, director of General Motors Co.'s electrical-control integration laboratory in Warren, Mich. "Cars that drive themselves and, as such, cars that do not crash."
Sometime within the next decade, he predicted, cars will be capable of going from point A to point B without human input at all.
Much closer to reality than driverless vehicles are "connected cars" equipped with sensors and onboard computers that enable them to dodge moving vehicles or even stationary objects.
Driverless cars already have been tested, using autos already on the showroom floor as well as experimental vehicles. In 2007, a Chevrolet Tahoe navigated an abandoned Air Force base in California for 55 miles, interacting with cars being driven and other pilotless vehicles.
The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that connected vehicles could reduce accidents involving unimpaired drivers by 80 percent.
The autos would rely on devices that would have a monitoring range of about a quarter-mile, reading signals sent out from other equipped cars, plus units placed at traffic lights or stop signs.