Automation

Personally, I think that the increasing automation of cars is more of a hinderance than a help. This is because it is giving the drivers less and less to do whilst driving, and while this may be a good thing for some drivers (Boyracers and tailgaters) it can distract normal drivers. Cruise control, one of the first automated features in cars allows the driver to keep a constant speed without having his feet on the pedals. This may be a good thing for long motorway stints, when you're in and out of average speed zones (Here in the UK anyway) but when you use it, you don't pay as much attention to your speed, so you could easily be speeding if you miss a speed limit sign. Good for the cops, but not for drivers. Yes, these mistakes could be stopped by using a system similar to the one in the new Golf (Maybe other cars too, I don't know) where there is a camera on the front that can see speed limit signs, and adjusts the adaptive cruise control accordingly (If ACC has been specced) Another thing that cruise control doesn't do is stop accudents; Say you're cruising behind a car at 70, and that car suddenly brakes. unless you were paying proper attention, your car would go straight into the back of the car in front. Again, a bad thing, but another one that car manufacturers have sorted with collision avoidance systems, which brake as soon as the car in front does (Another thing that has to be specced though)

S-Class. Autonomous.

Secondly, collision avoidance systems (CAS). They're good because they can stop an accident from happening, but if the drivers are good enough, accidents shouldn't happen. CAS can allow your car to slow itself down to match the speed of the car infront, but also stop your car if a crash is imminent. Whoopee for car owners, because they're less likely to have an accident, but it allows car drivers to be lazy and pay less attention, which can be dangerous when they drive a car  without CAS. Another CAS feature is one that I'm sure a few new cars have: Lane Departure Avoidance System (LDAS). LDAS allows cars to 'see' where the white lines on the road are, and stop the driver from going out of them accidentally, which can be a good thing (Stopping accidents) but it can be a bad thing; It gives drivers knowledge that the car will steer itself when their hands are off the wheel, something that enables the driver to reach across to the back to get their thermos, take his hands off the wheel and eyes off the road, and have no control over the car. If there were an accident, the driver wouldn't be able to avoid it.

Stereotypical autonomous cars

Thirdly, fully autonomous cars. Yes they exist, and yes, they are mass produced, not Passats and Prius' with cameras and GPS on the roof. For those of you who don't know, I'm on about the new Mercedes S-Class, which is fully autonomous up to 20MPH. This means that around town, this Merc will drive itself around town, which means more lazy drivers. The S-Class also has all the CAS systems, which  means lazy drivers with powerful, expensive cars, that are more likely to get into accidents.

To conclude then, I think that cars should be either not autonomous or fully autonomous, with no in between. Autonomous cars for the idiotic drivers, where they have no control at all, and are not allowed to drive normal cars, and normal cars for everyone else. Simples.

The Focus driver should have a fully autonomous car