Users of self-driving cars will be able to watch films on the motorway under planned changes to the Highway Code, although it will remain illegal to use mobile phones. The update, proposed by the Department for Transport (DfT), will allow those in the driver's seat to use a car's built-in screens to watch movies and TV programmes. The new rules also state that insurance companies will be financially liable, rather than individual motorists, for accidents in self-driving cars. However, those behind the wheel must be ready to resume control of the vehicle when they are prompted – such as when they approach motorway exits. These measures were described as an interim measure by the government to support the early deployment of self-driving vehicles.

I wasn't very keen on writing about autonomous driving to tell you the truth. I prefer talking about innovative technologies that haven't been widely discussed in popular media. No matter who you ask, they'll let you know that we'll have autonomous cars in the next few years. In this post, we'll look at the different stages of autonomous driving, how close we are to a self-driving world, and what is slowing down the development of fully automated vehicles. Before we go into technical explanations, let me first say something from a law point of view: The Penal Code and also the Code of Obligations (I refer here in particular to causal liability) have human behavior as their starting point.

The day is approaching when commuters stuck in soul-crushing traffic will be freed from the drudgery of driving. Companies are investing billions to devise sensors and algorithms so motorists can turn our attention to where we like it these days: our phones. But before the great promise of multitasking on the road can be realized, we need to overcome an age-old problem: motion sickness. "The autonomous-vehicle community understands this is a real problem it has to deal with," said Monica Jones, a transportation researcher at the University of Michigan. "That motivates me to be very systematic."

BMW's iNext concept vehicle continues to reveal new tricks after its official introduction at the LA Auto Show last November. Ahead of CES 2019 in Las Vegas on Sunday, the company showed off its latest futuristic feature, mixed reality holographic display. Normally when you're driving a car, all you (at least should) be doing is paying attention to the road and traffic around you. However, as BMW continues to develop its autonomous driving system to Level 3 and beyond, drivers soon won't have to pay nearly as close attention as they once did. In order to fill that newly-freed time, BMW is developing a mixed reality display system that will empower drivers to multitask; clearing items on their to-do list, taking video calls, even watching a bit of TV if they're so inclined. Engadget was afforded a brief preview demonstration of this technology at the BMW Pavillion, in which I donned a VR headset and took a simulated drive in a virtual iNext.

More than 37,000 over the course of 2017--what would statistically be considered a'good year.' Big tech has a solution: Have the cars drive themselves, free of the distractions, drunkenness, and other human foibles. Flood the roads with autonomous vehicles, and watch collision deaths plummet. Too bad this lovely narrative has a major plot hole: Blunt force trauma isn't the only way cars kill. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people die prematurely from breathing exhaust-poisoned air.

Here's why Intel just offered $15.3 billion for Mobileye, an Israeli company that specializes in machine vision and learning for cars. The automobile is being dismantled, reimagined, and rebuilt in Silicon Valley. Intel's proposed $15.3 billion acquisition of Mobileye, an Israeli company that supplies carmakers with a computer-vision technology and advanced driver assistance systems, offers a chance to measure the scale of this rebuild. In particular, it shows how valuable on-the-road data is likely to be in the evolution of automated driving. While the price tag might seem steep, especially with so many players in the automated driving space today, Mobileye has some key technological strengths and strategic advantages.

A lot of discussion and ethical thought about self-driving cars have focused on tragic dilemmas, like hypotheticals in which a car has to decide whether to run over a group of schoolchildren or plunge off a cliff, killing its own occupants. But those sorts of situations are extreme cases. As the most recent crash – in which a self-driving car killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona – demonstrates, the mundane, everyday situations at every pedestrian crossing, turn and intersection present much harder and broader ethical quandaries. As a philosopher working with engineers in Stanford's Centre for Automotive Research, I was initially surprised that we spent our lab meetings discussing what I thought was an easy question: how should a self-driving car approach a pedestrian crossing? My assumption had been that we would think about how a car should decide between the lives of its passengers and the lives of pedestrians.

A lot of discussion and ethical thought about self-driving cars have focused on tragic dilemmas, like hypotheticals in which a car has to decide whether to run over a group of schoolchildren or plunge off a cliff, killing its own occupants. But those sorts of situations are extreme cases. As the most recent crash – in which a self-driving car killed a pedestrianin Tempe, Arizona – demonstrates, the mundane, everyday situations at every crosswalk, turn and intersection present much harder and broader ethical quandaries. As a philosopher working with engineers in Stanford's Center for Automotive Research, I was initially surprised that we spent our lab meetings discussing what I thought was an easy question: How should a self-driving car approach a crosswalk? My assumption had been that we would think about how a car should decide between the lives of its passengers and the lives of pedestrians.

Waymo and Lyft are teaming up. Warner Bros. vision of what the interior of a self-driving car with augmented reality could look like if configured to be like the Batmobile (Photo: Warner Bros./Intel) LOS ANGELES -- If your car is doing the driving, how will you pass the time while you travel? If the entertainment industry has its way, you'll be watching its latest movies and TV on a big screen inside your self-driving car. Maybe you'll engage augmented reality or play video games. Hollywood is starting to take a serious look at what could be a huge opportunity in a new age of self-driving cars: Seizing a big chunk of the time that people used to spend behind the steering wheel to get them to focus on entertainment.

The automobile is being dismantled, reimagined, and rebuilt in Silicon Valley. Intel's proposed $15.3 billion acquisition of Mobileye, an Israeli company that supplies carmakers with a computer-vision technology and advanced driver assistance systems, offers a chance to measure the scale of this rebuild. In particular, it shows how valuable on-the-road data is likely to be in the evolution of automated driving. While the price tag might seem steep, especially with so many players in automated driving today, Mobileye has some key technological strengths and strategic advantages. It's also developing new technologies that could help solidify this position.