Skip to Content
Smart cities

At the Detroit Auto Show, the Autonomous Car Dream Is Still a Way Off

January 17, 2018

Last week’s CES technology show sold a vision of driverless cars—but this week’s motor show appears to disagree.

Robotic bluster: The Verge argues that autonomous-car hype at CES was a ploy to win some much-needed public approval. As the tech blog points out, regular folks don’t think a whole lot about robo-cars, and when they do, surveys reveal that they don’t want them all that much.

The other auto trends: Meanwhile, at this week’s Detroit auto show, there’s other stuff going on. Electrification is high on the agenda. So are the huge trucks that Americans love to buy. Autonomy? Not so much: there are still a lot of steering wheels on show.

What it all means: Despite the hype, autonomous cars remain experimental. While real-world trials are taking place, it will be years before auto shows are dominated by driverless cars—because it’s going to be years until most automakers can actually sell them.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build

“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”

Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives

The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.

Learning to code isn’t enough

Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.

Deep learning pioneer Geoffrey Hinton has quit Google

Hinton will be speaking at EmTech Digital on Wednesday.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.