With its SARTRE project, VolvoVolvoSweden, 1927 > present49 models
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aims to highlight the potential for implementing road trains on conventional highways, with platooned traffic operating in a mixed environment with other road users.

"The road train is the best of two worlds. You can enjoy all the multi-tasking possibilities of public transportation behind the wheel of your own car. It's the perfect complement to the true pleasure of driving a Volvo yourself," says Erik Coelingh, Technical Specialist at Volvo Car Corporation.

The project road train includes a manually driven lead truck, which is followed by one truck and three Volvo cars. All the following vehicles are driven autonomously at speeds of up to 90 km/h - in some cases with no more than a four-metre gap between the vehicles.

"The basic principle is that the following vehicles repeat the motion of the lead vehicle," says Erik Coelingh. He adds: "To achieve this we have extended the camera, radar and laser technology used in present safety and support systems such as Adaptive Cruise Control, City Safety, Lane Keeping Aid, Blind Sport Information System and Park Assist Pilot."

The most important new features that have been added to the vehicles are a prototype Human-Machine Interface including a touch screen for displaying vital information and carrying out requests, such as joining and leaving the road train. Another prototype vehicle-to-vehicle communication unit allows all vehicles within the platoon to communicate with each other.

According to Volvo, the long-term vision is to create a transport system where joining the road train will be more attractive and comfortable than leaving your car behind and using public transportation on long-distance trips.

The company also points to a number of benefits, besides the option of doing other things while driving. The road trains could for exampe promote safer transportaton as inter-vehicle reaction response times are very quick thanks to the co-ordinated technology. Also the environmental impact could be reduced as the cars drive close to each other and reap the benefit of lower air drag and the reduced speed variations improve traffic flow, creating more efficiently utilised road capacity.