The Author's WIsh for Self-Driving Cars -- further down the road?

Carmakers have so far introduced autonomous technology carefully, aware that having too little to worry about behind the wheel can be just as dangerous as having too many distractions. Too slowly for this committed car junkie. After all, what could be more futuristic than jumping into your hovercar, pulling the door downward to close it, keying in your destination, and dozing for two hours until you arrive at the seaside? Well, a jetpack. But, failing personal flight, autonomous driving would finally bring the future to now.

But this MIT article throws cold water on the dream of autodrive mode.

From this article: 'Vehicle automation is being developed at a blistering pace, and it should make driving safer, more fuel-efficient, and less tiring. But despite such progress and the attention surrounding Google's "self-driving" cars, full autonomy remains a distant destination. A truly autonomous car, one capable of dealing with any real-world situation, would require much smarter artificial intelligence than Google or anyone else has developed. The problem is that until the moment our cars can completely take over, we will need automotive technologies to strike a tricky balance: they will have to extend our abilities without doing too much for the driver.'