These days, we hear a lot in the car and light truck world about autonomous driving. Whether we’re talking about systems that allow you to drive for miles with no hands on the wheel and no feet on the pedals or simply the latest in lane-centering technology, there’s no shortage of literature on the subject.

You could make the argument, however, that a car’s ability to change the outcome of a given drive was actually a trend not started by its ability to read road signs or virtually attach itself to the vehicle ahead through radar sensing technology, but by its AWD system.

Take, for example, Kia’s Dynamax AWD system. Available on vehicles like the Sportage and Sorento crossovers, Dynamax is a proactive AWD system that can alter a drive by sending power to whichever wheels need it by reading the terrain below.

Say you’re heading around a fast “sweeper” corner on the highway. Even in slippery conditions, the system will sense that and adjust how the power is distributed to each individual wheel, providing stability and confidence in the process. In case you didn’t believe this was all happening, a handy display within the gauge cluster will show you – in real time – to which wheels torque is being distributed.

Cornering is just one of the applications where this system is effective; it can also sense when the driver is inputting a heavier throttle – say for when entering the freeway – and will then channel its power to the rear wheels to get more traction and better response for what would be called the “hole shot” in racing, that is to say the immediate response from the powertrain on throttle input.

Now, of course there are many other factors when it comes to good acceleration – transmission calibration, engine type and power, etc. – but that’s all for naught if there’s a problem where the rubber meets the road and with Kia’s Dynamax system, you’re well taken care of in that department.