Auto update: Self-driving vehicles and new car trends

Guests: BRYANT WALKER SMITH and DAN NEIL

If you haven’t bought a new car in the last few years, you may be surprised by all the advanced systems now available to assist you driving. There are infrared sensors, collision avoidance systems, traffic jam assistance, inflatable seatbelts and lane departure warnings.  And coming soon – self-driving cars. Google has been testing autonomous vehicles on public roads for a few years now and Audi, Toyota and BMW are racing to catch up. This hour, how close are we to cars that drive themselves? We’ll look at the state of the technology and discuss some of the legal issues that could arise –who gets the blame for that fender bender, you or your car? Marty talks with BRYANT WALKER SMITH, a fellow at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School and Center for Automotive Research at Stanford.  Then, we get an update on the latest car trends and the best and worst new models with Wall Street Journal auto columnist DAN NEIL.

Photo:  A screen capture of what a driverless car sees. (AP Photo/Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles)