A new EU project called SATRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) is being launched to develop and test technology for vehicles that can drive themselves in long road trains on motorways.

The project’s aim is to improve traffic flow, journey times, offer greater comfort to drivers, reduce accidents and improve fuel consumption.

It envisages a vehicle joining the motorway and meeting up with a number of other cars which will move closer to each other, travelling at normal speed in a close-formation convoy, while the vehicle drives itself.

“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,” explained Tom Robinson, SARTRE project coordinator for Ricardo UK Ltd.

The first test cars, equipped with a navigation system and a transmitter/receiver unit that communicates with a lead vehicle, will take to test tracks from 2011.

Since the system is built into the cars, there will be no need to extend the infrastructure along the existing road network.

The idea is that each road train will have a lead vehicle that drives exactly as normal, with full control of all the various functions. This lead vehicle will be driven by an experienced driver who is thoroughly familiar with the route. For instance, the lead may be taken by a taxi, a bus or a truck.

Each such road train will consist of six to eight vehicles and a driver approaching his destination will take control of his own vehicle, leave the convoy by exiting off to the side and then continues on his own to his destination. The other vehicles in the road train close the gap and continue on their way until the convoy splits up.