Such freedom is granted under the Honda Sensing Elite's Traffic Jam Pilot function, which gives the car control over its own brakes, steering and throttle in that eponymous scenario. This lets the car maintain its following distance, speed and lane position. It does all this with zero input from the driver, who Honda says can "watch television/DVD on the navigation screen or operate the navigation system to search for a destination address." Outside of traffic jams, Honda Sensing Elite functions like the best ADAS technology currently offered from its electric vehicle partner GM, Cadillac's newly updated Super Cruise. With Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Keeping Assist and Low-Speed Follow active on the highway as well as "certain conditions" fulfilled, a Honda Sensing Elite-equipped car can drive behind another vehicle at a preset speed and a safe distance while staying centered in its lane. If the system notices the car ahead is lagging below the set speed, "the system notifies the driver and then assists [with] passing and returning to the original lane."

After months of teasers and announcements, Lucid Motors will finally reveal its first all-electric luxury sedan, the Air, during a live stream on September 9. But of course, the day before the big reveal, a little bit of news has trickled out. Lucid Motors has previously alluded that it will offer a high-end variant of the Air. That flagship variant, called the Dream, is expected to cost $169,000 (or $161,500 after federal tax credits are accounted for), according to a report by Bloomberg. The report said Lucid will produce a Grand Touring variant that will be priced in the low $130,000s after federal tax credits, as well as a sub-$100,000 Touring model.

Hyundai may have its Genesis brand for its luxury aspirations, but the new Le Fil Rouge concept car suggests the automaker's designers aren't quite ready to give up the high-end market yet. Revealed at the Geneva Motor Show 2018 today, the sizable sedan is billed as a vision not only of Hyundai's design language for its next generation of cars, but how it sees artificial intelligence and other technology in automotive developing. The outside is a huge, silver teardrop, all curvaceous lines with a few crisp creases along the way. Hyundai calls it "Sensuous Sportiness" and it's all about bringing together elements of architecture with technology. "The goal is to create an aesthetic bond throughout the future range," Hyundai insists, claiming that its customers choose the automaker's cars because of design first and foremost.

Unknown to analysts, investors and the hundreds of thousands of customers who signed up to buy it, as recently as early September major portions of the Model 3 were still being banged out by hand, away from the automated production line, according to people familiar with the matter. While the car's production began in early July, the advanced assembly line Tesla has boasted of building still wasn't fully ready as of a few weeks ago, the people said. Tesla's factory workers had been piecing together parts of the cars in a special area while the company feverishly worked to finish the machinery designed to produce Model 3's at a rate of thousands a week, the people said. Automotive experts say it is unusual to be building large parts of a car by hand during production. "That's not how mass production vehicles are made," said Dennis Virag, a manufacturing consultant who has worked in the automotive industry for 40 years.

The 2018 Audi A8, just unveiled in Barcelona, counts as the world's first production car to offer Level 3 autonomy. Level 3 means the driver needn't supervise things at all, so long as the car stays within guidelines. Here that involves driving no faster than 60 kilometers per hour (37 mph), which is why Audi calls the feature AI Traffic Jam Pilot. Go ahead, Audi's saying, read your newspaper or just zone out while traffic creeps along. Take a look at the company's promotional video.

The 2017 Consumer Electronics Show is set to kick off this week in Las Vegas, with promise to bring new innovations in everything from driverless cars to the'Internet of things.' This year marks the show's 50th anniversary, and the event is expected to have the largest array of virtual reality technology yet. While it doesn't officially begin until Thursday, a number of tech giants will be making announcements earlier in the week, including LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony. And, Faraday Future is expected to finally unveil its first production electric car one year after revealing the futuristic concept it claimed could reach 200 miles per hour. The 2017 Consumer Electronics Show is set to kick off this week in Las Vegas, with promise to bring new innovations in everything from driverless cars to the'Internet of things' Self-driving cars and TV screens that can be bent or rolled up are set to be among the biggest attractions when the CES begins on January 5. Some cars will even be equipped with virtual reality displays, according to AFP, while other devices will incorporate the technology in smart glasses, medicine, and beauty makeovers.

In the automotive industry, Tesla is a leader in many respects--but it's hardly head-and-shoulders above the rest when it comes to self-driving cars. The Silicon Valley automaker is developing fully autonomous cars, but it's part of a crowded field that includes many other automakers and a handful of rich tech companies as well. Still, Tesla's technical approach may give it an advantage over its numerous competitors. DON'T MISS: Let's be clear: Tesla's Autopilot is not a'self-driving car' The company has now collected a huge trove of operating data from customer cars running Tesla's Autopilot driver-assist system. Autopilot does not provide fully autonomous driving at present, but since Tesla began installing the system in its electric cars in late 2015, the system has delivered data on 1.3 billion miles of driving, according to Bloomberg.

Stop the presses on this one: Google is going to start working with Chrysler on their new Pacifica mini-van. The plan is to test a fleet of the 2017 model for now and have the technology integrated into the vehicle, not just as an aftermarket proof of concept. There will be a future version of the Chrysler Pacifica that has the self-driving tech. This is the first time, according to Chrysler, that Google has integrated sensors and software into a passenger car for consumer use in a future model, not just as a test in a current passenger car. One of the most surprising moves is that both engineering teams will co-locate in Michigan to work together and design the technology for eventual consumer use.

The BMW 7 Series is the world's first production car that can operate with no driver aboard, if only to dazzle the neighbors when it eases into your home garage. Press a button on the remote, with its palm-size LCD readout, and watch the BMW drive itself into a garage or back its way out. With its camera and ultrasonic sensors, the BMW can fit into small or stuffed garages that are too tight to allow opening the car's doors. This roboparking feature is offered only in Europe for now, but BMW is pressing U.S. regulators for approval. The car can thrill when you're behind the wheel, as I discovered on a track test at Monticello Motor Club in New York's Catskills region.