Self-Driving Cars Take Wheel, Almost, At Auto Show

Cars as robots, more or less. The L.A. Auto Show kicked off Tuesday with press days focused on the technology of the "connected car," which will eventually help lead to self-driving cars, like those that Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and recent auto-tech IPO Mobileye (NYSE:MBLY) have been working on. Volvo, for one, showcased in a news conference Tuesday that, like Google, its cars can drive themselves now following lanes, adapting speeds and merging into traffic.

"The first prototypes are out and running," Volvo Technical Specialist Erik Coelingh told IBD at the auto show, beside a Volvo outfitted as a "Drive Me" autonomous vehicle. "We've selected a number of commuter roads in Gothenburg on which we'll allow for self-driving in 2017 — and already we are driving around with prototypes like these."

On Swedish public roads, engineers accompany the autonomous cars for testing now. As a luxury car maker, Volvo sees providing autonomous driving capability for when a driver doesn't want to drive, for instance on a boring commute. But Coelingh said that there's a significant opportunity to improve safety via autonomous driving too.