With companies like Google and Audi already testing driverless vehicle systems, self-driving cars could hit the road in a matter of years. Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) recently announced the results of their on-road tests involving a caravan of four trucks with one person driving the lead truck. The report showed that the formation, travelling at the speed of 80 km/h (50 mph), achieved a 15 percent reduction in fuel consumption.

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Post tags: autonomous cars, car industry, Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control, driverless car technology, Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), green transportation, Japan driverless trucks, Japan green technology, self driving cars, self-driving vehicles, traffic air pollution, traffic fuel consumption

Today Toyota and Lexus unveiled a high-tech autonomous vehicle at CES 2013 that could pave the way towards self-driving cars in the near future. Although it isn’t fully driverless, the Advanced Active Safety Research Vehicle features a set of automated technologies designed to enhance drivers’ skills and reduce global traffic fatalities and injuries. The research vehicle is based on a Lexus LS and it incorporates next-gen sensors and systems to detect traffic light changes, warn drivers about dangerous obstacles, and monitor the vehicle’s position in traffic lanes to prevent swerving.

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Post tags: 2013 CES, autonomous cars, autonomous vehicle, car safety, driverless cars, energy efficient transportation, green cars, green transportation, green vehicles, lexus, Lexus active safety research vehicle, lexus advanced active safety research vehicle, lexus autonomous driving vehicle, Lexus LS, lexus self driving car, sustainable transportation, Toyota, toyota self-driving car

Volvos have always been marketed as some of the safest vehicles on the road – and now the automaker is working on “crashproof” cars with next-gen collision avoidance systems that could hit the streets by the year 2020. The features are designed to help drivers stay alert and well-informed to avoid collisions and dangerous situations. Although Volvo has set a goal of 2020 for the release of these new technologies, many of them will start showing up as soon as 2014.

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Post tags: automated car technology, autonomous cars, car safety, car technology, ford, Google, Mercedes-Benz, volvo, Volvo autonomous cars, Volvo V40

California Governor Jerry Brown just signed a new bill that allows autonomous cars on the state’s roads. Bill SB1298 was originally drafted by Democrat Senator Alex Padilla to help establish safety standards and rules for the operation of autonomous vehicles in California. “Today we’re looking at science fiction becoming tomorrow’s reality—the self-driving car,” Brown stated.

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Post tags: automotive, autonomous cars, electric cars, Google, google self-driving car, jerry brown, self-driving car, Toyota, toyota prius

General Motors former head of Research and Development, Larry Burns, has been looking to the future, and he sees driverless cars hitting the road as soon as 2020. The notion of removing human interaction from the equation may be unsettling, but developers have long maintained that driverless technologies would reduce the risks associated with distracted or impaired driving and improve fuel efficiency by preventing the unnecessary stop-starting of vehicles.

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Post tags: advanced cruise control, autonomous cars, Chevy Tahoe, chevy volt, DARPA driverless car race, general motors, Google Audi, google prius, gps navigation, Larry Burns, University of Michigan Robotics