PN Futura » Artikel » Prototype car travels from Paris to Bordeaux in autonomous mode

On Friday, 2 October 2015, one of PSA Peugeot Citroën's four autonomous vehicles travelled the motorway from Paris to Bordeaux to take part in the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) World Congress, which runs from 5 to 9 October.

The 580km trip was completed entirely in autonomous mode, without driver involvement. The car autonomously adjusted its speed and changed lanes to overtake, taking into account other vehicles, speed limits and infrastructure.

An autonomous Peugeot Citroën has driven itself all the way from Paris to Bordeaux in a demonstration of the increasing viability of self-driving vehicles (Credit: PSA Peugeot Citroën)

In July 2015, the Group became the first carmaker to obtain the relevant authorizations to carry out open road tests using four autonomous prototypes, and some fifteen such models in 2016.

PSA Peugeot Citroën works to develop solutions and technologies to make the car of tomorrow smarter, in order to enhance driver comfort and adapt to changing customer behaviour and expectations. Autonomous driving features will help cut the number of accidents linked to human error and reduce driver fatigue in monotonous driving situations. These projects will soon be applied to production models, with the gradual deployment of driverless Features.

Commenting on this unique achievement in France, Carlos Tavares, Chairman of the Managing Board of PSA Peugeot Citroën said: "The journey made by our prototype today proves that autonomous vehicles are no longer of matter of science fiction. This ushers in a new era for mobility, which I find truly exciting."

There are a plethora of instruments, controls, and driving aids assisting the PSA Peugeot Citroën autonomous vehicle to drive independently on open Highways (Credit: PSA Peugeot Citroën)

PSA Peugeot Citroën envisage a driverless vehicle to be one bristling with intuitive controls and functions (Credit: PSA Peugeot Citroën)

Increasing levels of automation in self-driving cars mean that legislation for their use must soon change to meet their capabilities(Credit: PSA Peugeot Citroën)

ITS World Congress in Bordeaux (5-9 October 2015)

PSA Peugeot Citroën is presenting its autonomous vehicle and its car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication systems at the 22nd ITS World Congress. These systems, which offer a new source of information, use data transmitted by other vehicles and infrastructure to enhance awareness of the vehicle's surrounding environment. The idea is to improve road user safety by anticipating certain critical situations to reduce the number of accidents.