Ford doesn't expect smarter cars to start changing drivers' behavior by throttling back their acceleration or limiting their speed to save energy, McGee said. Rather, the idea is to help the car program itself to adapt to each driver's style.

The company won't discuss any plans for car features or services based on this technology, and due to logistical issues, its software demonstration at Google I/O doesn't even use an actual vehicle. But McGee said products based on this type of intelligence might reach the market some time after 2015.

The IDG News Service