Race for high-tech dominance on the road

Frankfurt

AT THE recent Frankfurt Auto Show, Ford Motor Co unveiled a new feature that lets drivers pre-set their car to go at or just above the speed limit. In-car cameras and software read and react to road signs, speeding the car up or slowing it down.

Active Speed Limiter is available on select models in Europe, but not, ironically, in the United States, Ford's home country, where road signs come in different shapes and sizes, and are often obscured by shrubbery.

So it goes on the road to the self-driving, or autonomous, car - a journey of, well, stops and starts that most experts say will take a couple decades to complete.

Meantime, advances in "semi-autonomy" - features that help handle tricky or tiresome driving situations but still require a driver's oversight - have sparked a high-tech automotive arms …