Fast approaching: driverless cars: driving is how you get things done. Yet it also stops you from getting even more things done. If only the act of driving were a thing of the past and you could become a passenger, get out your work, and let the vehicle be a real-life Jeeves. Well, a few companies are getting us closer to that futuristic feeling, though there's still a long way to go

John Hanson, national manager for environmental, safety, and quality communications for Toyota, says it's gone this far because of the current state of the art in sensors and processing. "There are three basic aspects to how it works," he says. "it's the vehicle's ability to perceive its environment--actually see what's going on. The second part is it can process what it's 'Looking at.' It's one thing to see it, another to understand it. The third part is the response. After it perceives its surroundings, can it respond, and do it quicker and with more precision than the driver?"

But Hanson says the autonomous ability wasn't created to Lose the driver but to gain safety. "It's not so much...