Drive performs this function in English:
2 a : to operate a vehicle
// learned to drive at the age of seventeen
b : to have oneself carried in a vehicle
// drove to Canada as a kid
(source: Merriam-Webster)
Sometimes, ride works as well, but it's almost never used with a car:
1 a: to travel on
// ride a bike
// ride the bus
(source: Merriam-Webster)
This might work; I assume you have a typo in your example:
Imagine a car driving down the way, and then it stops gently.