Autonomous Road Train Project Completes First Public Road Test

Posted by samzenpus on Monday May 28, 2012 @09:58AM from the follow-the-leader dept.

theodp writes "Covered earlier on Slashdot, but lost in the buzz over the Google driverless car is Project Sartre (Safe Road Trains for the Environment), Europe's experiment with 'vehicle platooning,' which has successfully completed a 125 mile road test on a busy Spain motorway. Three Volvos drove themselves by automatically following a truck in the presence of other, normal road users. The Register reports that on-board cameras, radar and laser tracking allow each vehicle to monitor the one in front, and wirelessly streamed data from the lead vehicle tells each car when to accelerate, break and turn."

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Re:Or you could just take an ordinary train by Anaerin · 2012-05-28 10:09 · Score: 4, Informative

This system allows anyone to join and leave the train at any time while it is in motion. It allows users to transfer from one train to another. It can form trains of (theoretically) any length. It allows you to choose your own personal entertainment without disturbing anyone else in the train. It allows you to travel from start to destination without having to wait, or go outside. Need I continue?