Self-driving Volvo cars on the roads of Sweden. Free Technical Library News

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Self-driving Volvo cars on Swedish roads

16.05.2014

Volvo Car Group announced the launch of the promised Drive Me project to test self-driving cars in urban environments. The first cars that do not require a person to drive have already taken to the streets of Swedish Gothenburg.

Volvo is testing Autopilot technology, which allows vehicles to navigate the road on their own. In particular, such vehicles can maintain lanes, adapt to the speed of the flow and adjust to its rhythm of movement. According to Erik Coelingh, technical specialist of Volvo Car Group, the created autopilot takes over all the functions of controlling the car.

It was previously reported that the Drive Me project will test about 100 unmanned vehicles that will drive along the busy roads of Gothenburg, as well as along highways adjacent to the city. A route with a total length of 50 km was chosen for testing.

The project is being implemented with the support of the Swedish Ministry of Transport, the Swedish Transport Agency, the Lindholmen Science Park and the Gothenburg City Government. The city, Koeling noted, has become "the world's first arena" for testing self-driving vehicles in everyday conditions.

"Through this pilot program, we will be able to gain important insights into the benefits that autonomous vehicles can bring to society for use in natural traffic conditions," added a Volvo spokesman.

The Swedish automaker hopes that by 2020 the mass introduction of electronic systems that take over part of the driving functions will help drivers avoid accidents completely.

Audi, BMW and General Motors have previously announced their plans to launch production of self-driving cars in six years. In addition, similar developments are underway at Cadillac, Toyota, Google, Continental and Mercedes-Benz. The latter has applied its best achievements in the field of unmanned control in the updated S-Class executive sedan.

Premium electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors promises to create a car capable of moving in city traffic with almost no human intervention by the end of 2016.

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Street heating 12.11.2005

The climate of Germany is milder than ours, but even there in winter there are big problems with the removal of snow and ice from the streets.

Railconcrete is testing a heating system for bus stops in Chemnitz. In the concrete slab on which the stop pavilion stands, coils are built into the edge of the sidewalk and the roadway, through which non-freezing liquid is pumped from a well drilled in the ground. The depth of the well depends on the area to be heated.

A heat pump (a device capable of concentrating and pumping heat from where there is little to where it is even less) maintains a temperature sufficient for melting. The sensors turn on the heat pump when the concrete temperature drops below zero and turn it off when the temperature rises. Even with heavy snowfall, the sidewalk in this place remains clean.

A larger trial is planned for winter 2005/06 at a large number of Dresden bus stops. The experiment should show what is cheaper - to introduce such systems or to remove snow and ice in the usual way, with sprinkling of salt.

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