DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. (CBS) — Imagine a world where your commute is your actual office, or where you can comfort your crying child in the backseat without having to drive off the road.
Self-driving cars have been seen as the future of the auto industry for several years, but how close are we really to taking our hands off the wheel for good, and what will it look like when it happens?
You have to hand it to Hollywood, where they know how to make us fantasize about the future of driving. Flying cars may still be the stuff of ‘The Jetsons’ and their Google-esque vision of the 21st century as they envisioned in 1962, or ‘Back to the Future Part II’ – that 1989 classic where ‘the future ‘ that Doc Brown and Marty McFly’s visit is almost ten years ago now.
But this story isn’t about flying cars. What about a car that is so smart that all we have to do is sit back and drive while the car drives itself?
We started our search for answers at Packey Webb Ford in Downers Grove.
“A world where 100% automation happens, 100% of the time, in 100% of the places, is still a long way off,” said Ashley Lambrix, BlueCruise’s chief executive. “But the exciting thing is that the future is here now.”
BlueCruise is the active driver assistance system available in some Ford vehicles. It is the software that makes autonomous driving possible, just like the computers and sensors in the car can drive for you.
“It builds on familiar technologies such as adaptive cruise control and lane centering, and adds the ability to drive hands-free on the highway,” Lambrix said.
That’s right, hands-free.
Many consumers have their doubts about such technology. This year, AAA found that 66% of drivers surveyed were afraid of fully self-driving vehicles.
For this story, we drove onto the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway, one of the major highways that is largely outside major cities and where drivers can take advantage of the self-driving feature.
When you press the adaptive cruise control button, a display says “hands-free,” and drivers can take their hands off the wheel. From there the car just drives itself.
But a camera on the dashboard still monitors the driver, who is expected to pay attention.
“If you take your eyes off the road for too long, there is a series of escalation warnings that are audio, visual and then haptic to alert you to return your attention to the road,” Lambrix said.
In the event of an emergency, drivers can take over at any time. But even knowing that, as Marie Saavedra sat behind the wheel of a car that drove independently with adaptive cruise control, what surprised her most was her physical reaction.
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“I’m out of my body right now. I don’t know what to do with my hands, you know, because it’s fighting that habit,” Saavedra said, “but I feel whole… it keeps me within a good distance of everyone, and – wow.”
BlueCruise technology falls into six levels of automation, determined by the Society of Automotive Engineers.
- At level 0 there is no computer support and the driver controls the car as normal.
- At level 1 it is a step further, while the adaptive cruise control takes over braking and speed.
- At level 2 it’s hands-off, with lane centering and some steering assistance.
But in each of these three levels, the driver must continue to pay full attention – with hands on the wheel or not. The Ford in which Saavedra was behind the wheel was a Level 2.
“I think most cars today will be somewhere between Level 1 and Level 2,” says Philipp Kampshoff, senior partner at McKinsey & Company and automotive industry consultant.
CBS News Chicago asked Kampshoff to explain the next three levels of automation.
“Level 3 would be what we would say: hands off, eyes off, brain on,” Kampshoff said.
Level 3 would be highly automated. BMW has Level 3 self-driving technology in its 7 Series, meaning drivers can read, work or watch videos under certain conditions. But the driver still has to be ready to take over the wheel within seconds.
Level 4 is fully automated and is currently driving around in the form of the self-driving taxi.
“We’re already seeing them deployed in San Francisco and Phoenix,” Kampshoff said. “They’re coming to LA, Houston, Austin, Atlanta now.”
Warmer weather in those cities means fewer obstacles.
“So it will be a few more years before we see robotaxis moving into the snow belt, so to speak,” Kampshoff said.
So don’t hold your breath for a Chicago rollout just yet. But if it happens, it will be level 5: a driverless car that can function in all conditions.
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But even then you would get in, wouldn’t you?
Customers must feel safe. Cities and states need to consider additional traffic and regulations. And hailing a cab is one thing, but paying for systems like BlueCruise and similar features from other companies can push price tags beyond the budget of some regular car buyers.
Still, Kampshoff believes the growing pains of new technology will be worth it.
“I mean, 40,000 people die in car accidents every year, right?” And the third of our CO2 emissions causes transport costs, right? And we waste 60 minutes a day in the car every day. We can change all that,” Kampshoff said. “But the question is how quickly can we get the technology and adoption at scale?
Back in the I-88 car, Saavedra was behind the wheel for an automatic lane change. All it took was a tap on the turn signal.
It seemed like hands-free driving would make a ride more physically relaxing.
“It mimics the behavior of an active driver just to provide that increased comfort,” Lambrix said.
So it’s not a flying car. But the features feel futuristic – and by 2034, the industry hopes they’ll feel more commonplace.
“As someone who is admittedly not a car girl, I really had no idea of this technology in a tangible way until I was behind the wheel,” said Saavedra, “so it’s very interesting, and it makes me curious about what the future holds.” brings.”
Consumer Reports calls Ford’s BlueCruise the number one driver assistance system on the road.
