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Self-driving cars, soon a reality
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 04 January 2010, 21:47 IST   |    3 Comments
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Self-driving cars, soon a reality
London: A team of European scientists are developing a fantasy car which can drive on its own. This fantasy vehicle can be on road in as early as in 10 years and test would start by next year, according to The Daily Telegraph. This project is co-ordinated by a UK company called Ricardo, the European Union project is called Safe Road Trains for the Environment (Sartre) and it involves a "carpooling" roadtrain theory for use on motorways. The roadtrain would consist of six to eight vehicles whose occupants would be able to relax, read the paper or chat on mobiles while travelling; this will be possible as their cars would be equipped with a navigation system and a transmitter unit that communicates with the lead vehicle. The lead vehicle will be a truck or a taxi driven normally and it will do the driving part for other cars. Once the driver is approaching his destination, he will take command of the vehicle and drive away. The other vehicles in the roadtrain close the gap and continue on their way until the convoy splits up. The roadtrains increase safety and reduce environmental impact, thanks to lower fuel consumption compared with the cars being driven individually, the scientists say. The reason is that the cars in the train are close to each other, exploiting the resultant lower air drag. The energy saving is expected to be in the region of 20 percent. Also, road capacity will be able to be utilised more efficiently. "The Sartre project brings together a unique mix of technologies, skills and expertise from European industry and academia. The aim is to encourage the development of safe and environmentally effective roadtrains. By developing and implementing the technology at a vehicle level, Sartre aims to realise the potentially significant safety and environmental benefits of roadtrains without the need to invest in changes to road infrastructure," said Tom Robinson, Coordinator of automotive engineering company Ricardo UK. The Sartre project will be conducted for three years starting in 2011 on test tracks in the UK, Spain and Sweden and eventually on public roads in Spain.

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