In July of 2025, I bought a new car. It was actually the first wholly new car I’d ever bought. Prior to that, I’ve owned two used cars. Neither one of those cars had a model year within the decade I’d owned it. The first still had a tape deck. So, getting a brand new car with all the most up-to-date features you’d expect of a car made within the past eight years was a big deal.
Now, I could go on and on how much I love my new car. I could dedicate entire articles to how much I enjoy Apple Carplay, seats that don’t feel like a metal slab, and an air conditioning that’s actually reliable. But of all the features I’ve come to love about my new car, one in particular stands out. And that’s adaptive cruise control.
If you own a car made within the last four years, chances are you know what it is. You’ve probably used it to a point where it’s mundane. But for me, a guy who generally avoids long drives and lengthy road trips, it felt like a revelation. It also got me even more excited about the future of self-driving cars.
To appreciate this sentiment, I need to share a little anecdote. Even thought I bought my new car nearly a year ago, I didn’t take it on any long road trips. The furthest I drove it was to a relative’s house and that was barely a 40 minute drive. I admit I did have a bit of reluctance to take those drives. On top of not liking lengthy road trips in general, I felt protective of my new car. It’s the first new car I’d ever owned. The last thing I wanted was to put much strain on it. I know that sounds dumb, but that’s how I felt.
Then, I finally had to make a trip. My family planned a small get-together. But this time, the location wasn’t close. It was a two-hour drive away. I agreed to go. I wanted to go because this was one of those family get-togethers that was overdue. It marked the longest drive I’d done to date with this car. Since a good chunk of it would be on a major highway, I planned to use adaptive cruise control.
I admit I was a bit confused on the controls. I ended up watching some YouTube Shorts to learn how it operated. But once I got the hang of it, I was astonished by how well it worked. More importantly, it made that two-hour drive (which ended up being longer because of heavy traffic) much less stressful.
It felt like a natural evolution of cruise control. My previous car did have cruise control, but it rarely made driving easier. Whenever I went on road trips, I didn’t get many chances to use it. Traffic was too erratic and the roads did not support it, even on highways. But adaptive cruise control does a bit more than maintain speed.
When you pair it with lane control, the car essentially is on autopilot. It stays within a particular lane of the highway. And it uses sensors to detect whether there’s a car in front of you and whether it’s necessary to decelerate. You still need to keep your hands on the wheel. The car does have this beeping noise that reminds you to stay engaged. But that’s largely a safety thing. I understand it because this isn’t full self-driving. This is just making these long stretches of highway driving smoother, less stressful, and less strenuous.
I admit I didn’t know how effective it would be. I’ve heard mixed reviews of self-driving and adaptive cruise control features in cars. But my personal experience was remarkable. By the time I got to my destination, which ended up taking two-and-a-half hours because of traffic, I didn’t feel nearly as drained or sore as I usually did. It showed in how the get-together went. And when I drove back that same evening, I was sold. I don’t think I’ll ever buy another car without this feature.
It still took some getting used to. For the first few miles of using adaptive cruise control, I still culched the wheel like I often did with my old car. Eventually, I saw how effective it was at sensing other cars ahead, maintaining a certain speed, and staying within the lanes. There was still this weird feeling, having a car drive itself to some extent. I think it had less to do with trusting the technology and more to do with changing how I approached driving a car on a highway. I don’t know how common that feeling is. I suspect it might play a part in why people remain skeptical about self-driving cars. But for me, it got me genuinely excited for the future of this technology.
I understand that, as I’m writing this, fully autonomous cars aren’t where they need to be. Even though there are already robotaxi services like Waymo, the technology still has its share of kinks. And I suspect the public doesn’t trust self-driving cars, to say nothing of the companies producing them.
But it’s also worth remembering that this tends to happen a lot with new technology. It took a while for the public to trust cars. The novelty can be overwhelming and it takes time to get used to the idea. Eventually, the utility and economic advantages of cars overshadowed the reluctance. It didn’t happen overnight. It didn’t even happen in the span of a few years. All technology goes through periods of refinement, development, and regulatory approval. Self-driving cars will be no exception.
I don’t know when that time will come, but it feels a lot closer now. After having experienced the joys of adaptive cruise control in my new car, I’m honestly rooting for this technology even more. I understand there are skeptics. I don’t doubt there are real concerns about the safety, reliability, and overall impact of self-driving cars. In the end, it’s a simple calculus. Do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? Society has made that calculation in the past. It did so with cars and it’ll do so again with self-driving cars.
As much as I love my new car at the moment, I know there will come a time when I prepare to buy a new one. Hopefully, when that time comes, the car I buy will have a self-driving feature. It’ll be something where I just get inside, input my destination, and relax for the duration of the drip, no matter how long or short it might be. If that’s an option, then what could that mean? Would that mean I suddenly feel more open to long trips? Would I travel more, go to new places, and meet new people? I don’t yet know, but I look forward to finding out.
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