What鈥檚 it like to drive a car that drives itself? To give a computer full control of your destiny, on the highway, at 70 miles an hour? Well, I鈥檝e experienced it already, in the very first week of 2015, on a 560-mile road trip from Silicon Valley to Las Vegas. On behalf of Fortune, I was one of five journalists to experience an autonomous car at this advanced level. The car was an Audi A7 that looked exactly like any other, if you discounted the special paint job and the words 鈥淎udi Piloted Driving鈥?on the sides. The oddest part was just how quickly I got used to the car making decisions for me at highway speeds. All the major automakers are in a race to develop the first fully autonomous car, and if you listen to some of the companies it sounds as if a robotic chauffeur will be taking over grocery-getting duties any day now. Don鈥檛 believe them. Neither the technology nor the laws governing it are anywhere near that point.
Nonetheless, Volkswagen Group-owned Audi was out to prove that it was ahead of the curve, and invited me to test drive a prototype sedan capable of 鈥渓evel three鈥?autonomous technology (see accompanying story for definitions of those levels). The trip began from a hotel in Menlo Park, and I had visions of inputting 鈥淟as Vegas鈥?into the navigation system, hitting the 鈥済o鈥?button and kicking back with 1984 on my Kindle as the car whisked me away. Not so much. This special prototype can only pilot itself in very specific situations. The driver gives up control while already on the freeway and takes it back before it鈥檚 time to exit. Audi engineers says they have done more than 50,000 miles of testing on public roads in America using this self-driving technology. But on this trip they weren鈥檛 leaving much to chance. They had run the long, southeastern route through Bakersfield at least six times previously. There were two German engineers in the car at all times. The one in the back had a laptop and was constantly screening data. The fellow in the right-hand seat paid keen attention to the road ahead.
Disconcertingly, he also had his own gas and brake pedals. The trunk of the car was filled with components from desktop computers, with a hydra of cords interconnecting them to the car. Also a bit disconcerting. But the interior looked almost entirely normal. It鈥檚 at this point that I should mention that I鈥檓 an A-type driver. Years of training on the racetrack and practicing emergency maneuvers have not helped matters. You may think you鈥檙e a great driver. I would likely disagree. I love to be in the driver鈥檚 seat鈥攁nd if I鈥檓 not, I鈥檇 just prefer to be outside the car. So yes, you might say I鈥檝e got control issues. And while I like technology, I don鈥檛 really trust it. Computers crash all the time. They can be hacked and compromised and my Apple computer too often suffers that spinning ball of death. Was I really ready to turn over my life to a robotic overlord? Have we learned nothing from the Terminator movies? Then we got on the freeway and a message appeared on my digital dash, informing me that 鈥減iloted鈥?driving mode was available.
Traffic was heavy and too closely spaced together. This truly would be a test of the technology. I glanced over at the engineer and he gave me a confident nod. The lower stalks of the steering wheel have two extra buttons. You press and hold both simultaneously to engage the autonomous feature. I did so: an alert sounded and the steering wheel automatically retracted several inches, literally moving out of my hands. The A7 prototype uses an array of stock sensors, including radar and a front-facing camera, to navigate through traffic. It stays in the right-hand lane until it comes on slower-moving traffic, and then will engage its turn signal, pull into the left lane, and pass. Using the side stalk, I set the speed at 70 mph. The steering wheel was moving on its own, a ghost in the machine. We were approaching a slow-moving minivan quickly and I tensed, my foot hovering over the brake pedal. The car smoothly engaged the brakes, waited for a car on the left to pass, turned on the signal, passed the van and pulled back to the right. I stared straight ahead, hands in lap. Then I relaxed a bit.
Then I got bored. I twisted in the seat and began chatting with the engineers. Then I started messing with traffic around me, planting both hands on the side window as cars passed. No hands. I got some strange looks. I even tried to attract the attention of a state trooper pulled to the side of the road. My engineer/minder wasn鈥檛 so amused. Here鈥檚 what I liked: It was very easy to take back control. Simply grab the steering wheel and apply light pressure, and the system happily gives all controls back to you. You can also apply the brakes or gas and do the same thing. And the car still drove and handled like an Audi. It really wasn鈥檛 foreign at all: Easy to understand even easier to use. What I didn鈥檛 like: The passiveness. It鈥檚 very hard to pay attention after a while. Being sort-of, kind-of in control is difficult.