A convoy of self-driven cars has completed the first ever test on a public motorway. The test in Spain covered 200km as part of the SARTRE project investigating the use of semi-autonomous motoring.
The SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) project is a EU-backed investigation into removing the need for drivers in cars following a lead vehicle.
A Volvo XC90, Volvo V60 and Volvo S60, plus a truck, followed a lead vehicle driven by a professional driver on motorways outside Barcelona. It marks the first ever road train journey among other road users.
Linda Wahlström, project manager at SARTRE said: "Driving among other road-users is a great milestone in our project. It was truly thrilling. During our trials on the test circuit we tried out gaps from five to fifteen metres.”
The vehicles employ a range of technologies already fitted to Volvo models, such as cameras, radars and laser sensors, to monitor the lead vehicle, and other nearby vehicles. New wireless communication systems allow the train to mimic the steering, speed and braking of the lead vehicle.
Partners in the SARTRE project, including Volvo and Ricardo UK, believe road trains can deliver improved comfort for drivers, who can work, read or relax behind the wheel rather than driving. It is predicted that safety and pollution levels can both be improved and the risk of tailbacks can be reduced.
Wahlström said: "We've learnt a lot during this period. People think autonomous driving is science fiction, but the fact is the technology is already here. From the purely conceptual viewpoint, it works fine and road train will be around in one form or another in the future.
"We've focused really hard on changing as little as possible in existing systems. Everything should function without any infrastructure changes to the roads or expensive additional components in the cars. Apart from the software developed as part of the project, it is really only the wireless network installed between the cars that set them apart from other cars available in showrooms today."
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lights on nobdy home
What a load of twaddle, picture this, you accelerate down the slip road, indicate right, look in the mirror, WTF! 50 Volvos nose to tail doing 55 behind a truck! How on earth do you get on the motorway! Even if you are a boring fhart, how would you join the train or get out of it if you are in the middle? I can just see the steam rising now! Noo you idiot, this is not my junction as 49 irate Volvo drivers shoot off down the wrong sliproad.
I'm sorry but if you dont like driving, gerrorf the road and catch the bus/train and leave the roads clear for those of us that do!
We'll legislate you back to the stone age.
Yep, BigApple, the practicalities are so complicated, especially during an extended introductory phase (20 years?) when the majority of other vehicles don't have the technology. It's essentially a non-starter without a clean-slate start. The problem is, not that Volvo are involved, but the EU. I'm neither pro- nor anti- EU, but they do seem to have the opposite of the Midas touch when it comes to legislation.
uuhmm. There's a lot of odd
uuhmm. There's a lot of odd Volvo-phobic and pointless arguments here against what is at the moment an early prototype. Id didn't realise so many people enjoyed driving on motorways so much.
I do quite a lot of long distance driving. I quite enjoy the 20 miles getting from my house to the M5, and the last 20 miles after it to where ever i'm going. But if I could spend the 3 hours in the middle, reading, eating, (I guess even sleeping) as I might on a train, suffer less hold ups, use less fuel, and still have my car with me at the end of the motorway to enjoy, I think i'd arrive a tad fresher.
disaster waiting to happen?
Just thinking about it the logistics and the long term effects this technology would have is terrifying. When you consider the costs involved with such technology (likely into the thousands) will most likely price a large amount of road users off the roads who simply cannot afford the system, as well servicing costs involved (it won't be something you can fix in your own garage) and not forgetting your risking your life with a lorry driver (including foreign drivers who do not know the roads at all) who often do not pay attention whilst driving (for instance eating whilst driving etc) and your wanting to intrust such drivers with multiple cars and lives whilst trying to handle their own vehicle in the mean time.
Another thing will be the massive effect this will have on driving skills for ever in the long term to the point where we will have no driving skills at all. (it is not a system like traction control where it still maintains control to the driver just helps) this system cuts out our driving ability.
For instance the technology exists already and for years to have planes that fly themselves to perfection (can even land and take off without problems), however they have pilots because would you trust your life to a computer, of course not you would rather trust someone else who is qualified and experienced.
Eh Calm down, Calm down
Tomy90 you seem to have worked yourself up a little, Don't worry this will never be compulsory, and in any case it will be many years before we see it in regular use. I think it is fascinating stuff, there are plenty of concerns but it is very interesting that this experiment contained a commercial vehicle, it could be practical for road freight, this is surely the point, drivers cost money.
Shock as Volvo beats BMW
For all those who like to slate Volvo, and love their BMW's, perhaps you might need to rethink your evaluations..
http://www.whatcar.com/car-news/jd-power-survey-2012/the-results/263078
Highest placed Volvo 14th, highest BMW 32nd, even the Jaguar X-Type rated higher than any BWM..