Way-back-when, the auto makers started installing lights to replace gauges. They called them "idiot-lights". Recent advertisements are now showing how auto makers are going to apply brakes for you when they sense a crash is imminent, or put you back in your lane if you are drifting. I'm a little bit concerned about any car doing something I haven't told it to do.

A good example in the last few years is "stability (traction) control". If you know how to drive in slippery conditions or on ice (and fewer and fewer people do) you must love when "stability control" kicks in and destabilizes you. You can't apply power or brakes as you would like. The vehicle just stutters. In my vehicle "Stability Control - ON" is the default setting. I would like to permanently disconnect it. It's a hazard.

Too dumb to parallel park? Don't worry, the car will do it for you. Too dumb to drive? Don't worry, "driverless cars" are on the way.

The only idiot-light I need is a red light affixed to the top of the head of each of the numb-nuts on the highway in the McKinney/Allen area so I can identify them when I get within proximity.

Yes sir, the last thing I want or need is a car that knows what's best for me. My oldest daughter is 12 and when I am driving around I am constantly pointing out the stupid drivers all around us and I tell her that when she starts driving to just assume that 90% of the drivers around her are idiots. We won't do anything about getting the idiot drivers off the road, so we get this. Another opportunity for someone to look out for us.

Whether you are paranoid or not, one should also consider this...technology is already available and being used to tell auto insurance companies "how" you drive...speeds, etc. And some insurance companies offer reduced rates if your driving meets THEIR standards, even though they have no concept of the context in which your driving occurs.

So, enter driverless cars...In order to work, it must track you and the route to your destination(s) in minute detail, sense your immediate environment and global position, and calculate even the smallest needed course corrections by computer...then use the computer to manage your car's controls.

At any rate, GPS need not be a one-way street (pardon the pun). Anything it sends YOUR car (your immediate position) can be tracked and recorded as it is sent. With a "smart" car and our litigious society, it is highly likely that ALL the inputs and actions by your car's computer(s) would be recorded as they occur for legal evidence in the case of suit(s).

And knowing business the way it is, that data would no doubt be for sale by the recording company to anyone willing to pay enough vig.

So much for privacy and freedom of movement.