How to make smart cars safer: Let them watch you drive

Driver-monitoring systems come in two basic types: eye trackers and steering wheel sensors. In either case, if a driver is detected not paying attention, warnings are sounded through lights or sounds or both. — dpa

It's 2025 and you're cruising down the highway late at night. It's been a long day and your eyelids feel heavy. All of a sudden, you hear three beeps, lights flash, your car slows down and pulls itself safely to the side of the road.

This scenario is closer to becoming reality than you may think, and although autonomous vehicles get all the headlines, most drivers will experience something like it long before they can buy a car that drives itself.