Combined with standard stability control that uses the antilock braking system to keep the car headed in the direction you're steering, we found the W8 unstoppable, even during a near-whiteout snowstorm that had a lot of SUV drivers skidding all over the road.

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If the car begins to oversteer or understeer, the system applies braking on individual wheels to restore stability.

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The technology in question is KERS (kinetic energy recovery system) for capturing and storing the car's braking energy instead of wasting it as heat.

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Meanwhile, there's some code in the stability-control system dubbed Agile Handling Assist, through which the car, actively braking one of more wheels, helps drivers hold their line with smaller steering inputs.

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Car manufacturers might even develop vehicles that integrate the driver's thoughts with the braking or steering system.

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Mercedes-Benz's Distronic Plus system, for instance, contains radar-based sensors as part of its cruise-control system, to keep the car at a preset distance from the vehicle in front, braking automatically if the gap narrows quickly.

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As the anticipated time-to-impact decreases, CMS prepares the car for sudden braking by moving the brake pads nearer to the brake disks, and finally, when the system concludes that a collision is less than one second away, it starts to apply the brakes itself.

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