Road train on track but driver safety is a concern

The scheme in which cars join each other in a train controlled by a lead driver is due to start being tested soon, writes DANIEL ATTWOOD

TRIALS ARE to begin next year of vehicles that can ‘drive’ themselves. If successful this new road-train technology could revolutionise the way we drive.

However, the developers admit there are major safety concerns they need to address before the technology can be fitted to new cars.

The autonomous driving system, which should be available within a decade, allows vehicles to join a motorway as normal and then ‘meet up’ with others fitted with the same technology. These then inch up to each other using navigation and vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems and continue travelling at motorway speeds with less than a metre between them in close-formation convoy.

Participating drivers will also use their navigation systems to detect nearby road trains travelling in the same direction, which they can then join.

Once their vehicle is electronically connected to the train, drivers can let go of the steering wheel, read the paper, talk on the phone or even watch the TV, while their cars take control of themselves using the new autonomous driving technology.

But it will actually be the driver of the lead vehicle who will effectively be in control of all the others in the convoy.

This driver could be in control of up to seven other vehicles linked in behind it, say the developers.

“Similarly as paying a professional bus driver for taking you safely from A to B, we expect that you will have to pay a small amount to the lead vehicle – which is driven by a professional driver,” explains Dr Erik Coelingh, safety technology expert at Volvo, the only car maker in the project.

“In return you will get safe transportation, a reduction of fuel costs of up to 20 per cent and the freedom to spend your time on reading a book, working on your laptop, having a cup of tea or doing something else.”

But having one driver in control of several vehicles poses major safety issues agreed Anthony Smith, spokesman for Ricardo, the lead company in three-year Sartre (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) project.

“This project will raise a large number of questions,” says Smith. “We will have to ensure safety – this is crucial – the technology will never be accepted or allowed if we didn’t.”

His colleague and project coordinator Tom Robinson agreed some of the key safety issues will surround the lead driver. “We do anticipate additional training being required for the lead driver, who we are currently assuming will be a professional driver,” he says.

The trails also need to address questions such as what happens when a ‘rogue’ driver tries to push into the convoy and how insurance companies will react to a system allowing a single driver to be in control of multiple vehicles.

But when the issues are overcome, the rewards will be significant – the technology could reduce participating vehicles’ fuel consumption and emissions by a fifth, could increase safety and reduce congestion.

And most of the technology is already available. “The intention is to develop road trains based on existing technologies to the extent that this is possible,” explains Dr Coelingh.

“Modern Volvos are equipped with radar, lasers and cameras for active safety features and adaptive cruise control that help drivers avoid accidents. The same technologies can be re-used for the development of road trains.”

The €6.4 million trails – with €3.8 million of that coming from EU funds – will be on test tracks across Europe from early next year before moving onto public roads in Spain at the start of 2012.

The developers say that while motorway drivers will be the first users of the technology, it has the potential to be used in towns and cities where vehicle trains could link up on dedicated lanes.

They also point out that this new technology will work on the existing road network effectively increasing capacity without the need for expensive infrastructural changes.