New roadtrip to highlight potential of driverless van technology
Monday 26 July 2010 Back to Blog
Van contract hire customers could be picking up fully-automated vehicles within the next ten years, a new experiment suggests.
Looking to highlight the advances made in the field of fully-automated driving technology, a team of scientists have now set off on an 8,000-mile journey from Italy to China.
The team will be travelling in a pair of converted Piaggio Porter Electric vans, which they will only control should they encounter any unforeseen difficulties.
Instead, for the majority of the time between now and the end of October, the vehicles will drive themselves, using cameras, laser scanners and GPS technology to navigate roads ranging from busy European thoroughfares to quiet desert tracks.
Project leader Alberto Broggi said of the trip:" What we are trying to do is stress our systems and see if they can work in a real environment, with real weather, real traffic and crazy people who cross the road in front of you and a vehicle that cuts you off."
He added, however, that driverless vehicles may still be 20 years away from coming onto the market, suggesting it will be some time yet before they will be made available to van contract hire customers.
Earlier in the month, Ford unveiled its new zero-emission, electric Transit Connect van.