Reading the morning paper while behind the wheel of your car might sound like surefire recipe for disaster, but in the not-too-distant future it might just become a safer and more economical option than actually doing the driving yourself. That's the theory behind SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) project – a synthesis of personal and public transport that will allow cars to be daisy-chained and automatically controlled by a lead vehicle in a process dubbed "platooning." The project has now made the leap from simulator to real roads in the first successful demonstration of the technology at the Volvo Proving Ground near Gothenburg, Sweden.
Vehicles linked in a platoon are guided by a professional driver in a lead vehicle with each car constantly monitoring the distance, speed and direction relative to the car in front and automatically making adjustments to keep the road-train on track – in other words, you sit back and relax while the brakes, accelerator and steering wheel are automatically operated. Vehicles can also leave the platoon at any time.
This is not for everyone...because if all of us start using this who will be the leader then?
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