The Future of Car Commuting

It's nearly at the point where using the word futuristic to describe autonomous cars verges on journalistic irresponsibility. Earlier this month the famous self-driving Google car received a (self-) driver's license from the state of Nevada. Computer scientists are cooking up ways for driverless cars to navigate busy driverless intersections. And last week the "road train" — a semi-autonomous highway platoon that follows the movements of a human-driven lead car — made a promising debut outside Barcelona.

The successful trial was conducted by the Sartre project, short for Safe Road Trains for the Environment. The five-car road train consisted of a lead truck followed by an autonomous truck and three Volvo sedans. (Volvo is a partner in Sartre.) The convoy traveled about 125 miles outside the city at speeds around 53 miles per hour while keeping a uniform 20-foot following distance between vehicles. It was the first time a road train had operated on a public highway being used by other motorists: