Driverless Van: Nifty Concept; Apparently Works

"Driverless van crosses from Europe to Asia"
Jo Ling Kent, CNN Tech (October 28, 2010)

"A driverless van has completed the longest-ever trip by an unmanned vehicle, beginning in Italy and arriving in China, covering 13,000 kilometers (8,077 miles), researchers said.

"The van arrived at the Shanghai World Expo on Thursday, after leaving Italy on July 20.

"The three-month trip took the van through Eastern Europe, Russia and Kazakhstan; across China through the Gobi Desert; and finally along the Great Wall, before arriving for a celebration at the expo. The driverless van relied solely on electricity...."

Quite impressive - and apparently legit. There's a sort of slide show that goes with the article.

Electric cars have come a long way: from golf carts with pretensions of practicality, to vehicles that somebody might actually pay good money for.

Apparently it's very important that this robotic car also is all-electric.

What impressed the Lemming is that - apparently - a robotic vehicle made it so far, without needing help. Again, technology has come a long way. Information technology in this case.

Then there's this odd ending for the article:

"...The European Research Council primarily funded the expedition, to develop technology to increase road safety and fuel efficiency by supplementing driver decisions at the wheel. The project used low-cost technologies that could be integrated in most current vehicles' chassis, researchers said.

"More than 1.2 million people die annually in auto crashes, according to the World Health Organization."

The implication, apparently, is that robotic cars will be really, really safe. After all, they'll use software in computers: and everybody who uses computers knows how absolutely reliable the are.

If self-driven cars include a dashboard screen display, they could give the "blue screen of death" a whole new meaning.