A new part EU funded project SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) has launched to develop and test technology for vehicles that can drive themselves in long road trains on motorways.

The idea is that once a car joins the motorway it meets up with a number of other cars which inch up to each other, travelling at normal speed in a close-formation convoy. At which point you stop driving the car, as it is now under computer control and can spend your time reading the morning paper, talking on the phone or watching the TV.

The first test cars equipped with this technology will roll on test tracks as early as 2011. The vehicles will be equipped with a navigation system and a transmitter/receiver unit that communicates with a lead vehicle. Since the system is built into the cars, there is no need to extend the infrastructure along the existing road network.

“The SARTRE project brings together a unique mix of technologies, skills and expertise from European industry and academia, with the aim of encouraging the development of safe and environmentally effective road trains,” explains Tom Robinson, SARTRE project coordinator, of Ricardo UK Ltd. “By developing and implementing the technology at a vehicle level, SARTRE aims to realise the potentially very significant safety and environmental benefits of road trains without the need to invest in changes to road infrastructure.”