Self-driving cars are expected to be much safer than human-driven ones. But even if the first robot cars hit the roads in the next few years, most of us probably won’t give up driving entirely for at least another 15 or 20 years. In the meantime, traditional cars will gradually take over certain aspects of driving.

Companies have been adding semiautonomous features to cars since the 1990s—things like adaptive cruise control, which uses sensors to adjust a car’s speed based on the traffic in front of it, and automated parallel parking. Some cars automatically stop—or at least slow down—if a driver doesn’t step on the brake in time to avoid a collision, and in certain 2017 Mercedes-Benz models, the driver will be able to change lanes simply by hitting the turn signal for two seconds (the car will take care of the rest). Within a few years, cars may be able to determine when an accident is likely and make adjustments to the cabin—moving seats, closing windows, retracting the steering wheel.

Even better than preparing for a crash, of course, is preventing one. Some vehicles emit warnings when they detect, via cameras and sensors, that a driver is getting drowsy. Future cars might take over for sleepy drivers—or automatically pull to the side of the road and shut down. Biometrics could aid this process. If a car has sensors that can measure a driver’s respiration and heart rate, it could shift into self-driving mode when a driver has a heart attack or passes out.

2. … And Big Leaps

While traditional manufacturers slowly add semiautonomous features, Tesla is taking a more aggressive approach. Last year, an update to the software in certain Model S vehicles added the ability to operate via “autopilot”: The car mostly drives itself, but the driver can take over if, for example, the car attempts to exit the freeway unbidden—as it did during some runs soon after it was introduced last year. Each time a driver intervenes, Tesla registers the correction in its software, which is distributed across its fleet. The idea is that over time, the cars will get better at driving.

Tesla’s autopilot occupies a regulatory gray area, since updates to a car’s software don’t require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s approval—though that could change as the agency rules catch up with technology. Ford or GM would likely never have put such an untested system into service, but Tesla’s tech-forward customers seem willing to take the risk, even if those of us who have to share the road with them would rather they didn’t.

Early this year, Tesla updated its software again to add a way to “summon” your car. The car can turn itself on, open the garage door, and meet you in the driveway like an automotive butler. For now, the feature is meant to be used only on private property, but Tesla promises Knight Rider–style summoning in the future: Your car will greet you at the airport when you return from a trip or sync with your calendar and know where to pick you up after a meeting downtown.