How AI is paving the way for fully autonomous cars

Artificial intelligence is set to be the stepping stone between driver assistance systems and truly autonomous vehicles. You'd be forgiven for thinking that fully autonomous cars were just around the corner. In some respects, of course, they are. Partial automation – along the lines of Tesla's much-publicised Autopilot – is set to become commonplace on premium cars over the next few years. Even when it comes to higher levels of autonomy, much of the required hardware is already available.