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The Toledo auto show opens to showcase autonomous cars

The Toledo auto show opens to the public Thursday.

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - The Toledo auto show opens to the public Thursday. Much like at the Detroit international auto show, autonomous driving will be a hot topic.

From the outside, it's doesn't look any different but it's the technology just below the surface that's changing the way we drive.

This 2016 Chrysler 200 is a level two autonomous car with features like lane assist to keep you from swerving into the next lane and autonomous cruise control that automatically adjusts the vehicle speed to maintain a safe distance from vehicles ahead.

The director of automotive services at AAA says many people don't know what their car is capable of doing.

"So we want people to understand what that is because that's a part of this autonomy and then this will help us grow into the fully autonomous vehicle over a period of time. so the goal is to help people become comfortable with the technology as it develops," said Bob Kazmierczak, the Director of Automotive Services with AAA.

The car has the capability to slow down as it approaches a car ahead of it. Drivers can even feel resistance when trying to change lanes without a blinker.

"If you have lane keep assist like this Chrysler 200 has and you're trying to change lanes, I'm gonna do it right now a little bit of resistance it's fighting me now I turn the turn signal back on watch me do it again not a problem," said Kazmierczak.

It's as if smart cars now have a central data center, like a brain, that receives signals from its surroundings with the help of sensors and cameras. They then put out a response to the body of the car, like shifting the car back into its lane.

Engineers at the University of Toledo are working to make sure the brains of the cars are safe from potential cyber attacks.

"They could have cyber attack or's who want to manipulate the system and hack the vehicles so I'm going to show that it is possible to come up with schemes in cryptographic techniques that would help prevent this smart vehicles from being attacked," said Jared

Technicians and engineers say the best thing drivers can do is to get educated on the technology that's out on the road or in their driveways.

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