Dec 30 2010
Road trains are all set to roll on European freeways soon, where tests with two cars will soon take place. Semi-autonomous driving, as it’s called, should make driving to work a happy experience, instead of causing tension.
The ‘Safe Road Trains for the Environment’ (SARTRE) system will use advanced automation and sensing technology in cars to help them form a convoy traveling down an expressway where only the lead vehicle needs to be driven by humans.
To maintain safe distance between each vehicle in the convoy, allowing each driver to take control of his own car without troubling the others, brake sensors, acceleration sensors, etc are needed. But the cost of these systems will surely be balanced by the joys of comfortable driving. This system will reduce travel time and chances of accidents. An added advantage would be that drivers in the convoy could use the time getting to work in more productive ways. The system will have just one driver actually driving the front vehicle whose alertness, blood-alcohol level, etc will be monitored by sensors.
Source: http://ideas.4brad.com/