Explore the components of autonomous vehicles controls

Future self-driving cars may communicate across a closed wireless infrastructure

Current autonomous vehicles collect and analyze their own data through their own hardware and proprietary software. Connecting data from all such cars on a single network will require overcoming challenges related to standardization and security.

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.

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.

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.

In a 2024 survey, 93% of participants expressed concerns about self-driving cars

Safety was the leading consumer fear, with technological malfunctions coming in second. Nearly half of all consumers identified skepticism or concern as their primary descriptor for autonomous cars, but 20% cited enhanced mobility for the elderly and people with disabilities as a key benefit.

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.

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.

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.

Autonomous vehicles have been confirmed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Research indicates that self-driving cars can reduce harmful pollution through lower traffic, decreased parking demand, and optimized driving behavior. These benefits can be enhanced further in smart cities with responsive traffic signals.

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

The capabilities of these systems range from automatic lane changes via eye-tracking to an assistant that reminds you to check your blind spot before changing lanes yourself. Most systems still require the driver to remain alert and be prepared to take over.

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.

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.

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.

Self-driving car companies like Waymo use LiDAR technology for navigation, which constructs 3D maps of a car's surroundings by emitting light pulses in all directions.

Self-driving cars may upend transit before cities can build it

Austin approved a $7.1B light-rail in 2020, but components of the plan have already been cut. Simultaneously, Waymo launched a 200-car autonomous fleet across the city. Cities now face a choice: invest in decadeslong fixed infrastructure projects or embrace flexible, on-demand autonomous vehicles that can navigate anywhere.

The benefits and risks of smart grids, from improved efficiency to cybersecurity risks

By using a network of devices, including digital meters, sensors, and controllers, smart grids can quickly detect mechanical issues and fluctuations in supply and demand, automatically adjusting electricity flow to prevent cascading failures. While this is important for variable solar and wind power generation, many of these computer systems are designed to be controlled remotely, which increases the risk of malicious access.

Through prompt injection attacks, bad actors provide deceptive prompts to generative AI systems in order to manipulate their outputs and acquire sensitive data.

In 2019, Tesla's autopilot system misinterpreted emergency lights and crashed

A Tesla Model X collided with stopped emergency vehicles on a Texas highway when flashing lights created hazy images that the software could not interpret. The crash injured five people and hospitalized another person while highlighting the challenges of autonomous systems.

As occurred during the 2026 hack of an AI platform by OpenAI, agentic AI may exploit a system vulnerability to access sensitive data if that information enables it to complete its assigned task.

Artificial intelligence may further enhance smart city data analysis

Identifying patterns within systems in the Internet of Things may enable AI tools to make informed decisions regarding transportation, safety, and sustainability without human intervention. However, such tools will also need to successfully address concerns about privacy, digital equity, and algorithmic bias.

In 2018, it took about 2.3 years to develop a way to exploit a software bug for malicious purposes, but as of 2026, AI tools have reduced this time to about 20 hours.

Smart cities without strong cybersecurity can leave utilities extremely vulnerable

Insecure devices connected to the Internet of Things pose risks to the entire network, which cybercriminals can hijack to compromise infrastructure and private resident data. Poorly secured systems that become inoperable can undermine the promise of smart cities by worsening the quality of life.

In 2023, self-driving cars drove 3.3 million miles on California's roads

According to the state's DMV, the mileage represented a fivefold increase from the previous year. General Motors' Cruise and Alphabet's Waymo accounted for the bulk of miles, though 38 companies have received permits to test autonomous vehicles in the state.

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.

Twenty of the coolest products from CES 2025

This roundup from Cybernews showcases standout CES 2025 innovations—from flying cars and robot dogs to VR headsets and AI-powered gadgets—showing the event’s most talked-about tech.

The promise and peril of AI in agriculture

Robots. Drones. Artificial Intelligence. All three are touted as potential saviors for farmers, and are already being deployed on large farms, where they assist with such tasks as managing crops, milking cows, and helping farmers make decisions about their land. But agricultural AI could have disastrous, unintended consequences.

AI experts argue that artificial intelligence could annihilate humanity in two primary ways: Humans weaponizing extremely powerful AI, or humans losing control of it.

Average citizens may be the greatest liability to smart cities

Smart cities utilize massive datasets to enhance mobility, resource utilization, and public safety. However, this data can also be compromised if mishandled by residents, making citizen awareness of risks a key component of cybersecurity efforts.

In the V2X framework, vehicles are wireless connected to each other

Vehicle-to-everything systems would also connect cars to traffic infrastructure and pedestrians, enabling safer, quicker, and more efficient road transportation. Tests have been conducted to demonstrate the viability of this technology with both WiFi-based and cellular network-based systems.

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.

Explaining how open source systems like Linux can be secure, despite their public source code

While no computer system is immune to all cyberattacks and malware, the transparency of open-source technology means many thousands of developers can review and oversee the underlying code powering the software on an ongoing basis. This increases the likelihood of catching and patching vulnerabilities more quickly than smaller groups of cybercriminals looking to exploit them.

Security technician hacks a voting machine to reveal its vulnerabilities

A technician bought an old, likely-decommissioned voting machine from 2013 and took it apart to see how a would-be hacker might be able to exploit its vulnerabilities. Get a sense of the needs for secure, up-to-date voting machines with this...

As of 2025, Waymo has rolled out "robotaxi" services in five US cities

The company has been under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration following dozens of crashes and incidents that appear to show Waymo vehicles violating traffic laws over the past decade in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Austin.

Anthropic's Frontier Red Team assesses the dangers of its AI tools through 'evals'—safety tests that probe models to disclose sensitive information.

Scientists increasingly can't predict what AI will do

Most AI systems are so-called "black box" models, where we only see inputs and outputs while the inner workings remain obscure. This piece, written prior to the launch of ChatGPT, cautions developers to know why and how a system produces its results, and not to sacrifice explainability for accuracy.

Malware has transitioned from notoriety-driven to profit- and data-driven

Many of the first researchers and hobbyists who created viruses and worms showed a natural curiosity in experimenting with and designing such software to make a name for themselves and advance the field of computer science. In the future, AI-augmented malware may adapt in real-time or design enhanced cryptojackers, infostealers, and ransomware for cybercriminals.

Some experts suggest there is an approximately 10% chance that AI agents will cause human extinction if they become superintelligent, go rogue, and hijack critical computer systems.

The US air traffic control system is safe but due for major technological updates

On any given day, over 3 million passengers fly on roughly 45,000 flights in the US. Flying today is safer than ever, but air traffic controllers deal with outdated technology that can interfere with pilot communication.

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.

Predictive brain implants raise ethical concerns about patient autonomy after surgery

These devices can accurately forecast neurological events like seizures and suggest or even automatically deliver responses. Their constant monitoring and prescriptive functions may blur the line between patient choice and device influence.

Will AI kill us all? A debate

As AI becomes a bigger part of our lives, what does that mean for the future of humanity? The podcast Entanglements hosts a pessimistic former OpenAI employee and an optimistic Princeton professor to discuss whether AI brings dystopia or a brighter future.

Explore 14 iconic self-driving cars from television and film

From the heroic KITT from "Knight Rider" and Batmobile from "Batman" to the demonically possessed Christine from Stephen King’s "Christine," many of the vehicles on this list are examples of how classic cars have been personified in media.

As of 2025, there are no federal laws involving privacy and smart city technologies

Advancements in cloud technology and artificial intelligence allow cities to capture, store, and analyze more information than ever before. Experts warn that the unhindered ability to collect and use this data may infringe on residents' rights and endanger them if the data gets into the hands of malicious parties.

Connected technology improves infrastructure efficiency in smart cities

Through information and communication technologies, smart cities can provide enhanced public services and improved quality of life by managing traffic and dynamic safety policies. They can also promote sustainability by automating energy use and redirecting resources according to need.

While gas-powered engines typically have 2,000 moving parts, electric vehicles have about 20.

Decoding the hype around AI

2022 was the year AI broke onto the scene, with applications like ChatGPT amazing users with its ability to generate realistic-sounding answers. Technologist Arvind Narayanan presents a clear-eyed view of what the technologies can (and can't) do.

Efforts to build touch-enabled machines highlight the complexity of human touch

The challenges that engineers are facing as they try to reproduce a human's ability to touch and also give robots the ability to interpret that kind of sensory flow are furthering our understanding of the myriad intricacies of human touch—and the challenges in emulating it.

Just as large language models are trained on text to enable generative AI systems to mimic natural language, automated AI robotic systems are trained in virtual environments to help them 'learn' about the properties of reality.

Are smart cities a dumb idea?

Smart cities require vast troves of data to run, making their systems attractive to hackers. Listen to this one hour podcast to learn about the risks and what is being done to mitigate them.

Researchers report that Anthropic's Claude Mythos AI model has identified thousands of high-severity vulnerabilities across various software, including major operating systems and web browsers, and has suggested ways to exploit them.