Report: Driverless electric vans finish 8,000-mile journey
 

<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/minivans/" rel="tag">Minivan/Van</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/china/" rel="tag">China</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/euro/" rel="tag">Europe</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/tech/" rel="tag">Technology</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/electric/" rel="tag">Electric</a></p><a href="http://detnews.com/article/20101028/AUTO01/10280434/1148/rss25"><img hspace="0" border="1" vspace="4" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/10/hkg4201858opt.jpg" alt="" /></a>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><sma ll>Driverless electric van expedition arrives in China - Click above for high-res image gallery</small></strong></em></div>
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Back in July, a team of researchers from the European Research Council set out on <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2010/07/23/engineers-embark-on-driverless-van-odyssey-from-italy-to-china/">an epic 8,000-mile journey</a> from Italy to China through the Gobi desert. If that weren't daunting enough, the crew braved the trek in a pair of driverless electric vans. Believe it or not, the team just finished up their drive, and while researchers on board had to intervene a few times to handle traffic and toll booths, by and large the vehicles navigated to their destination without any help from human hands. Instead, they use a system called generic obstacle and lane detector, or GOLD, along with a series of solar-powered laser sensors to determine the van's proximity to surrounding traffic.<br />
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The vans ran at a top speed of 38 mph to maximize battery life, but the real reason that the trip took so long is that the vehicles had to be charged eight hours for every two hours of driving. The researchers say that the data they collected over the trek could be used in everything from mining to construction to augmenting driver abilities.<br />
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<div class="postgallery"><p><s trong>Gallery: <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/driverless-electric-van-expedition-arrives-in-china">Driverless Electric Van Expedition Arrives in China</a></strong></p><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/driverless-electric-van-expedition-arrives-in-china/"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/10/hkg4201858_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/driverless-electric-van-expedition-arrives-in-china/"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/10/chinadriverlesscars.b5429 7ef0ccd410d941f5de6061add 1d_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/driverless-electric-van-expedition-arrives-in-china/"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/10/hkg4201863_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/driverless-electric-van-expedition-arrives-in-china/"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/10/chinadriverlesscars.e1bce 35779cb4643a3bced8d8477b3 d7_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/photos/driverless-electric-van-expedition-arrives-in-china/"><img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/10/chinadriverlesscars.46413 9395c86476d8af7b778ad10d8 ba_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" /></a></div><br />
[Source: <a href="http://detnews.com/article/20101028/AUTO01/10280434/1148/rss25">The Detroit News</a>, <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1308823 16">NPR</a>]<p style="padding:5px;backgr ound:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2010/10/28/report-driverless-electric-vans-finish-8-000-mile-journey/">Report: Driverless electric vans finish 8,000-mile journey</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.autoblog.com">Autoblo g</a> on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:59:00 EST. Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.</p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2010/10/28/report-driverless-electric-vans-finish-8-000-mile-journey/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/19693320/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2010/10/28/report-driverless-electric-vans-finish-8-000-mile-journey/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>

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