Self-driving cars get closer every day, but won't hit you

— -- Cars that drive themselves are no longer just the stuff of science fiction.

The technology is real, the cars can drive legally, and debate is starting on whether society is better off when software is behind the wheel.

Continental Automotive Group is testing a self-driving car that by month's end could be among the first licensed for use on public roads in Nevada, the first state to pass laws governing driverless vehicles.

Continental, a German company with its U.S. headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich., removed brake and steering controls in a Volkswagen Passat and replaced them with sensors and advanced technology to read the surroundings and drive accordingly.

To qualify for Nevada's special license, Continental engineers have racked up and documented almost 10,000 miles of autonomous driving. That included a recent trip from Las Vegas to Brimley, Mich., near Sault Ste. Marie, where Continental has a development and testing center nestled in the forest.

More than 90% of the journey was without a hand on the wheel or a foot on a pedal, said Ibro Muharemovic, one of three engineers riding shotgun.

A final trip is being planned to hit the 10,000-mile mark in the next few weeks.

Most of the technology is already on the market as safety features to avoid accidents or mitigate their severity.

Google started the debate about autonomous driving when it took a Toyota Prius and attached sophisticated but expensive equipment so the car could drive itself.

Engineers at auto supplier Continental want to continue the conversation with a semiautonomous version that is a more affordable and shorter-term solution.

The team equipped a Volkswagen Passat with Continental technology, creating a car that pretty much drives itself in two of the most stressful and least satisfying driving conditions: stop-and-go traffic and boring stretches of highway.

Both companies are chasing the same goals: reduce accidents, congestion and fuel consumption. With driverless cars, the age and state of the driver doesn't matter, and parking isn't an issue when cars can drop off passengers and drive home.

"There is a strong business case for an autonomous car that can drop you off or a cab without the expense of a driver," said Chief Executive Ravi Pandit of KPIT Cummins, a global IT and engineering company in Pune, India.

This is the future of the auto industry, and it is happening faster than consumers realize.

A semiautonomous car is still a couple of years from production, but much of the safety technology that makes it possible is on the market now.

Yet the idea of cars driving themselves raises questions about liability and regulation and whether the public is ready to accept them.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will start studying aspects of autonomous driving in August with a one-year pilot project in Ann Arbor, Mich., to test 3,000 cars with equipment to communicate with one another to prevent accidents. Officials have expressed support for technology that addresses distracted driving and prevents accidents.

Issues still to be resolved include who is liable in a crash and whether drivers of autonomous cars are legally exempt from bans on texting.

"When you put everything together, a car can drive automatically," said Ibro Muharemovic, Continental's lead engineer for advanced engineering.