Originally Posted by prathmann

I was somewhat surprised that Google set out with the initial goal of a fully autonomous car rather than having an intermediate step which strikes me as far simpler - full 'cruise-control' on freeways. I.e. you'd drive normally until you get to the freeway and then activate the enhanced cruise-control which would take over control until you neared your programmed destination exit. You could then nap, play computer games, etc. until a signal goes off near the exit and you resume control of the car. If the driver failed to retake control there'd be a planned safe-stop procedure where the car comes to a stop in a parking area and an alarm is generated so someone would come out to check on the health of the driver.