Hybrids and "Software Cars"

Car and Driver has a piece on hybrid cars [via WorldChanging, again. They should sue me]. They ran tests on the Prius, the Echo, etc, etc, to see which one got the best fuel efficiency.

Which interests us not too much.

What does interest us is the following paragraph:

Instead, think of hybrids as "software" cars. They decide on their own when to start and stop the engine. The Prius can even move smartly with the fuel burner off. In fact, the Prius runs almost half of the EPA city test without the engine. That's a tremendous achievement.

This, comrades, is Right Thinking.

All we need now is an approving article in Car and Driver about "software cars" that decide on their own when to turn the wheel.