Road train technology can drive your car for you
Letting drivers read a book, surf the net or possibly even have a snooze while behind the wheel may not sound like the best way to improve road safety. Yet that's precisely the aim of an automatic driving system that has just been road-tested for the first time in Sweden.
By linking cars together into road trains or "platoons" to form semi-autonomous convoys under the control of a professional lead driver, the hope is that average road speeds can be reduced, improving fuel consumption and cutting congestion.
In a test performed late last month, Volvo, one of the partners of the Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE) Project, showed that a single car could join a platoon, be "enslaved" by a lead truck, and then exit safely. Discussions are now under way to carry out tests on public roads in Spain next year.
Platooning is not a new idea, says Tom Robinson of engineering firm Ricardo UK in Cambridge, the co-ordinator of the project, which is funded by €6.4 million of European Commission money. Early small-scale tests, such as the PATH project tested in San Diego in 1991, used induction loops in the road, he says. "We are looking at operating platoons on public highways without having to change the infrastructure".
Your sensors are mine now
Some modern cars already come equipped with sensors and actuators to ensure that they don't get too close to the car in front, or don't drift out of their lane, says Robinson. SARTRE was set up to exploit these technologies, but to use them to bring vehicles closer together instead.
Using a wireless standard developed specifically for vehicle-to-vehicle communication – IEEE 802.11p – these systems would be enslaved by the lead vehicle, which would be either a truck or a coach. The car would be placed under the control of that lead vehicle, allowing the driver to take their hands off the wheel until they wish to leave the platoon.
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Letting drivers read a book, surf the net or possibly even have a snooze while behind the wheel may not sound like the best way to improve road safety. Yet that's precisely the aim of an automatic driving system that has just been road-tested for the first time in Sweden.
By linking cars together into road trains or "platoons" to form semi-autonomous convoys under the control of a professional lead driver, the hope is that average road speeds can be reduced, improving fuel consumption and cutting congestion.
In a test performed late last month, Volvo, one of the partners of the Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE) Project, showed that a single car could join a platoon, be "enslaved" by a lead truck, and then exit safely. Discussions are now under way to carry out tests on public roads in Spain next year.
Platooning is not a new idea, says Tom Robinson of engineering firm Ricardo UK in Cambridge, the co-ordinator of the project, which is funded by €6.4 million of European Commission money. Early small-scale tests, such as the PATH project tested in San Diego in 1991, used induction loops in the road, he says. "We are looking at operating platoons on public highways without having to change the infrastructure".
Your sensors are mine now
Some modern cars already come equipped with sensors and actuators to ensure that they don't get too close to the car in front, or don't drift out of their lane, says Robinson. SARTRE was set up to exploit these technologies, but to use them to bring vehicles closer together instead.
Using a wireless standard developed specifically for vehicle-to-vehicle communication – IEEE 802.11p – these systems would be enslaved by the lead vehicle, which would be either a truck or a coach. The car would be placed under the control of that lead vehicle, allowing the driver to take their hands off the wheel until they wish to leave the platoon.
READ MORE
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