You can show people an Italian supersedan that set a lap record on the famed Nurburgring circuit. You can point them to a sleek, affordable electric runabout that can go from Paris to Luxembourg on a single charge. But they'll probably just want to know one thing: When are cars going to drive themselves? The specter of the fully autonomous, virtually self-aware car has captured imaginations and dominated headlines like no other automotive story in decades. And for at least one very good reason: Such vehicles promise to dramatically reduce or even eliminate deaths and injuries in automobiles.