NEW technology is being tested that could make visiting clients a very different prospect.
Instead of driving with your hands on the wheel, you could be driving with your hands on the laptop.
That’s the possibility of future technology being tested to allow vehicles to drive themselves in long road trains on motorways. The technology has the potential to improve traffic flow and journey times, offer greater comfort to drivers, reduce accidents, and improve fuel consumption and hence lower CO2 emissions say the researchers.
The first test cars equipped with this technology will roll on test tracks as early as 2011. The vehicles will be equipped with a navigation system and a transmitter/receiver unit that communicates with a lead vehicle that actually does the ‘driving’. Since the system is built into the cars, there is no need to extend the infrastructure along the existing road network.
Bunching cars close to each other means lower air drag. The energy saving is expected to be in the region of 20% while road capacity will be more efficiently utilised.
“I do appreciate that to many people this sounds like Utopia,” commented Erik Coelingh, technical director of Active Safety Functions, Volvo Cars. “However, this type of autonomous driving actually doesn’t require any hocus-pocus technology, and no investment in infrastructure. Instead, the emphasis is on development and adapting technology that is already in existence.”
However, the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) warned that ‘permissible’ tailgating may send the wrong message.
“Many motorway drivers have pre-empted the so-called ‘road train’ technology – tailgating at speeds well in excess of the national speed limits is already commonplace,” an ETA spokesperson commented.
“A lower-tech solution would be for drivers themselves to maintain a safe stopping distance between their car and the vehicle in front – this is a tried-and-tested approach that is known to deliver lower emissions, fewer crashes and reduced congestion.”
The road train project – or SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) – will be led by Ricardo in the UK. Collaborating companies include: Idiada and Robotiker-Tecnalia of Spain, Institut für Kraftfahrwesen Aachen (IKA) of Germany, and SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Volvo Car Corporation and Volvo Technology of Sweden.
Cars that drive themselves to be trialled
