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After years of research, BMW is aiming to bring the vision of accident-free mobility closer to reality via BMW ActiveAssist – a package of partially and highly automated driving technologies. The experts at BMW Group Research and Technology have built a research prototype which can pilot its way at high speeds with exceptional precision, adhere to a marked out circular course regardless of road surface, and execute an obstacle-evading lane change. http://dai.ly/x19dkpz Even when deliberately provoked into oversteer the highly automated prototype follows its path safely and along almost identical lines time after time. The sensors delivering the necessary information are akin to the standard fitted systems found on today’s vehicles. Back in October 2009 the BMW Group rolled out its BMW Track Trainer research project to showcase highly automated driving on the ideal line around the gruelling Nurburgring-Nordschleife, race track. Developed by engineers at BMW Group Research and Technology, the BMW Track Trainer later demonstrated its effectiveness on other circuits including the Laguna Seca and Hockenheimring, among others. The BMW Emergency Stop Assistant research project added further important insights to the knowledge pool. If the driver is weakened - for example by a medical emergency like a heart attack – the function switches the vehicle into highly automated driving mode, steer it safely to the side of the road and automatically activate an emergency call. In 2011 a test vehicle covered 65km on a multilane highway in automated mode. The research prototype accelerated, braked and overtook other cars along the way without any driver intervention – while observing traffic laws and keeping pace with the traffic at speeds of up to 130km/h. The prototype has since covered approximately 15,000km. Since February 2013 the BMW Group and Continental have been working together to introduce several test vehicles with close-to-production technology. The BMW Group’s next major goal is to introduce highly automated driving on European motorways and tackle the challenges - such as crossing national borders and negotiating roadworks

Remember the films Demolition Man or i,Robot where cars of the future could drive on their own? Well, Volvo is bringing science fiction a notch closer to reality. Volvo Cars aims to play a leading role in the world’s first large-scale autonomous driving pilot project - where 100 self-driving Volvo cars will use public roads in everyday driving conditions around the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. The ‘Drive Me – Self-driving cars for sustainable mobility’ project is a joint initiative between Volvo, the Swedish Transport Administration, the Swedish Transport Agency, Lindholmen Science Park and the City of Gothenburg - endorsed by the Swedish Government. The pilot will involve self-driving cars using approximately 50km of selected roads in and around Gothenburg. More than cars, the project will focus on areas such as societal and economic benefits of autonomous vehicles, infrastructure requirements and customers’ confidence, among others. Volvo believes self-driving vehicles can also enrich city life in other ways, such as by lowered emissions which benefits air quality and traffic safety. The project will commence in 2014 with the first cars expected to be on the roads by 2017. The cars driven by customers will be new models including the all new Volvo XC90, which will be introduced in 2014. The project also includes fully automated parking - a concept which allows the driver to walk away from the car at the parking entrance while the vehicle finds a vacant spot and parks by itself. http://dai.ly/x17xmzy