We’ve seen robots go from moving to walking to possibly almost running like a real Usain Bolt. Almost. Well, here’s another example (albeit a very early proto) real-time self-driving car. Developed by the European Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTRE) project with the help from Volvo, the Swedish company that’s so obsessed with safety, this car is now being tested on the road, as shown by the video below.

Well, we can’t really say that it’s an AI that’s controlling the car. You see, the prototype that SARTRE has been researching and developing is a new system that enables a convoy of cars to be autonomously led behind a vehicle manned by a professional driver. So you do have a driver, but driving in a very digital method.

The lead of the “mother chicken” isn’t anything special – just a cargo truck – but the Volvo S60 tailing behind her is outfitted with a range of sensors, monitors and motors which allow it to follow in its path that’s transmitted by the “driver” of the “mother chicken”. A network of these vehicles could tuck in behind each other and allow the drivers to sit back, enjoy a cup of coffee and get through the morning paper on their way to work.

The system is expected to go live for commercial use by 2020, but SARTRE wants the system to be standardized first, at least in Europe.

SOURCE via Translogic