Look, no hands! On the autobahn in Audi's driverless car

Giving up the controls was as breathtakingly simple as touching two turquoise coloured buttons below the steering wheel with both thumbs. A melodious bell chimed, a line of LEDs stretching across the dashboard switched from red to yellow to aqua blue, and the steering wheel withdrew slowly and serenely from my sweaty grasp. But any nervousness I felt stemmed far more from being required to steer a multimillion-euro research vehicle the few kilometres from German car manufacturer Audi's headquarters in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, on to the autobahn, than the fact that "Jack" had now taken over the driving. I had signed a liability waiver before embarking on the road test, which required me to accept the risks of a piloted journey on the autobahn, including possible injury or death. But once Jack was calling the shots, it took remarkably little time to get used to the idea.