Knight Rider: The self-driving car

I almost laughed out loud at the start of last night's episode of Knight Rider. Mike Traceur sat in KITT's driver's seat, reading a dossier, and watching football as he cruised down some scenic highway—and why not, when he's got a car that can drive itself. Which is when it hit me: I've been writing about Knight Rider for weeks without looking into where we are on the whole self-driving car thing! I mean, a car that drives itself has to come before a talking car in the pantheon of useful technology, right? So, does anyone else remember back in 2005, when GM announced that they'd have a self-driving car by 2008? The story waseverywhere. It was supposed be a modified Opel Vectra that would attain speeds of 60 mph and navigate dense traffic. Well, here we are, 2008, no intelligent Vectra in sight. Where's our self-driving car, GM? Huh? ...