What we consider to be autonomous car technology is a complex combination of algorithms, sensors, actuators, automotive parts and robust processors that run all the software. Each of these components play a critical role in enabling autonomous cars to accurately map their surroundings and monitor the location of nearby vehicles, traffic lights, pedestrians, road edges and lane markings. Each of these subsystems will need to undergo significant improvements to achieve a fully functioning and safe autonomous vehicle. While we haven't achieved enough progress in all these areas, recent trends show that we are not very far from perfecting these components. Once we do achieve these milestones, however, we won't just change the way cars are operated, but will also see consequences extending far beyond the realm of autonomous car technology.

Researchers at Stanford University have developed a robotic'smart' cane that guides people with visual impairments using technology originated for autonomous vehicles. Most sensor canes use ultrasound to notify a user that there's some object directly in front of or above them. But the team at Stanford's Intelligent Systems Laboratory equipped their augmented cane with a LIDAR sensor, a laser-based technology used in some self-driving cars to measure the distance of nearby obstacles. The cane also incorporates smartphone-style GPS, accelerometers, magnetometers, and gyroscopes to monitor a user's position, orientation, speed and direction. A motorized, omnidirectional wheel on the bottom tip maintains contact with the ground and gently tugs and nudges users around impediments.

The Department of Transportation says it wants to remove barriers to innovation in autonomous car technology. Caitlin O'Hara/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption The Department of Transportation says it wants to remove barriers to innovation in autonomous car technology. The Department of Transportation has announced new federal voluntary guidance on the development and use of automated vehicles -- with the goal of "removing unnecessary barriers" to innovation. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao said Thursday that the department's 80-page "Automated Vehicles 3.0" guidance "supports the safe, reliable and cost-effective integration of automation into our country's surface transportation systems." The department indicated it was open to changing current standards that require all cars to have steering wheels, brakes and accelerator pedals.

UK drivers are some of the most resistant to the emergence of the autonomous car, a survey conducted across 11 major European nations has found. Japanese car maker Mazda polled 11,008 motorists in the UK, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland to gauge opinions on the arrival of driverless vehicles. Less than a third of the 1,002 UK motorists surveyed said they welcomed the advent of self-driving cars - the lowest of all the countries questioned - and were most in favour of still being able to drive an autonomous vehicle even when they become mainstream. Which European countries are most unhappy about the arrival of self-driving cars? Just about every mainstream car maker is currently looking to ramp up driverless car development in preparation for the coming years, but they may find the British market the most difficult to crack when trying to tempt motorists to let go of the steering wheel for good.

Apple recently made a new hire that would suggest that its secretive Project Titan is shifting gears from researching electric cars to self-driving ones, Bloomberg reports. Project Titan's newest team member is Dan Dodge. Mr. Dodge founded QNX, an operating system company BlackBerry acquired in 2010, which developed the navigation and connected device system currently used by Volkswagen and Ford, among others. He will be joining Apple's car research and development team lead by Bob Mansfield, another recent hire. Apple hasn't completely abandoned efforts to design an electric car. In the future, it could decide to partner with another company to produce parts, while Apple provides the software.

Get ready to'Waymo' a self-driving cab: Google creates new firm for its autonomous car technology To date, Google's cars have driven three million miles in autonomous mode, averaging about 25,000 miles per week. Called Waymo, the new firm is expected to continue developing the self driving cars and launch its own ride-sharing service. Your left hand really DOES know what your right hand is... The'internet of the road': Government proposals call for... AirPods are FINALLY here after months of delays: Apple's... Your left hand really DOES know what your right hand is... The'internet of the road': Government proposals call for... AirPods are FINALLY here after months of delays: Apple's... Called Waymo, it is expected to continue developing the self driving cars and launch its own ride-sharing service.

Researchers from the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a deep learning system that analyses a static photo, predicts what will happen next, and produces short video clip of this anticipated future – or what they call "Creating Videos of the Future." The system was trained on 2 million unlabeled videos, or about two years of footage. When feeding it with a photo, the system generates a video predicting the next couple seconds in the photo's scene. These algorithm-generated videos were deemed realistic by 20% of human subjects, based on 13,000 opinions from 150 users. This technology and similar technology will have a range of applications in the future.