there's no foot on the pedal. no hands on the steering wheel. driving 65 miles per hour, and you're wondering, will this vehicle stop when the motorcycle in front of you suddenly stops? that's the kind of testing that is happening on real roads outside of the nation's capital. it's a first for the state of virginia, which hopes to position itself as the hotbed for autonomous car research. >> automated controls engaging. >> feet off, hands off, eyes off. >> reporter: that's how we drove, 65 miles per hour down a stretch of virginia highway. it's the state's first try at testing driverless vehicles on real roads. cnn in one test car and the head of the national highway safety administration in another. virginia tech researchers in the driver's seat just in case. >> right here, i'm going to transition over to automated mode. >> reporter: researchers are studying how people in driverless cars react to