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Miscellaneous See other Miscellaneous Articles Title: Volvo’s self-driven car convoy treks 125 miles across Spanish motorway Motorists may soon be able to use their cellphones while driving without fear of getting a ticket. In fact, they may be able to take their eyes off the road completely. Volvo has successfully completed a public test of a self-driven convoy of cars. A human driver led the convoy of three self-driven vehicles, which mimicked the lead driver's actions through a wireless link. "Driving among other road-users is a great milestone in our project. It was truly thrilling," Linda Wahlstroem, project manager for the Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE) project at Volvo Car Corp., told the BBC. "We covered 200km in one day and the test turned out well. We're really delighted." The four vehicles completed a 125-mile voyage across a Spanish roadway traveling at an average speed of 52 mph. You can watch a 2011 test video of the SARTRE system: The SARTRE test was carried out as part of a European Commission research project. If offered to the public, Volvo says, the self-driving convoys could also allow commuters to "work on their laptops, read a book or sit back and enjoy a relaxed lunch" while traveling. Of course, while the technology is exciting (the SARTRE system uses cameras, radar and laser sensors), the net effect would have some of the same drawbacks as public transportation. After all, you'd have to be traveling in the same direction as your convoy leader. Still, Volvo says, the "road train" may be a viable future option for motorists and has added value since it would not require the development of new vehicles or roadways. Read More » Poster Comment: Darryl • Houston, Texas • This is technology that I expect to be deployed in the near future. It makes perfect sense for highway and probably freeway driving. You enter the roadway and engage the system, it notifies the other vehicle's systems and they make room for your vehicle and you all convoy down the road at the same speed- no speeding up and slowing down unneccasarily, saving gas. When it's time to exit or if you experience a failure your system pulls you out of line and disengages. Kind of like a cooperative controller with GPS input. Most people may not be aware but a lot of new cars are coming out that all functions-accelerator, brakes, steering, etc., are controlled by a computer anyway- not direct drive like in the old days.Does your new car have a steering shaft under the hood? Is your brake's master cylinder on the firewall? If not, then the computer in your car is probaly already doing the driving, you are just telling it what you want it to do.The future is now! Larry • The interesting part - while you are relaxing, electronics being as they are, the wireless link suddenly quits, due to interference, weather or what have you - a simple broken wire or fuse that runs it - and off goes your car - and you are totally unprepared to steer it..... certainly it will work good when new - now take those same electrical component 5 or 10 years later. Guaranteed something will fail and accidents will be plentiful. Optionally there might be a law that no car like that can be more than 3 years old. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 2.
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