Infiniti’s G37 has long been the star of Nissan’s luxury brand, largely because it’s been a hands-on car. Now, girding for an autonomous future, Infiniti is trying hands-off instead.

Refashioned as the Q50, the reworked sport sedan is as muscular as ever, but more luxurious. With choices reaching toward, well, infinity, buyers can have rear- or all-wheel drive, myriad options and either a 328-horsepower V6 or a V6 Hybrid that has 360 horses and an economy rating of 29 m.p.g. in town and 36 on the highway.

But where the G37 had typically been described as the next best thing to the BMW 3 Series, the Q50 seems not only to have switched from a well-regarded name, but also from a driver-first approach. And a driver-second description could be taken literally: Even as Nissan pledges to bring a fully autonomous car to showrooms by 2020, I found myself driving the Infiniti on surprisingly long highway stretches without touching the accelerator, brake pedal or steering wheel.

Girded with digital-, camera- and radar-based co-pilots, the Q50 charts a course toward the self-driving cars of tomorrow.