Paris business district will test self-driving NEVs in busy square
If you think that crossing la Défense square on foot is tiring, you'll be glad to know that you might soon be able to do it while sleeping. How, you ask? Because Paris' largest business district is going to test self-guiding NEVs on the square soon. Hervé Bonnat, Director of the Etablissement Public de Gestion de la Défense (EPGD), the public group that manages la Défense, has announced a test involving several Cycab models, self-guiding NEVs developed by the Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique (INRIA, National Institute for Automatics and Computer Research). The Cycab navigates with GPS and uses lasers to stop before hitting obstacles. It seats two and speeds up to whopping 30 km/h (20 mph). Don't scoff. That's plenty to cross the square, which is 1.5 km (0.9 miles) across. Not much time for a nap, though.
[Source: Le Blog Auto]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Domenick Yoney 9:10AM (10/22/2009)
Whoa! Johnny Cabs with lasers!! Pew pew!!!
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esacha 10:28AM (10/22/2009)
I used to Work in La Defense, and it has alway been a long walk to get to the office from the Metro station, it was a LONG walk, especially in Winter where you walk 1 KM form the Exit to the office, helped keep most of us in shape tho.
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letstakeawalk 12:33PM (10/22/2009)
I understand that this is just a test, and that there are benefits to having self-aware automobiles that can make successful navigational decisions, but at the moment I'm left thinking about this:
"If you think that crossing la Défense square on foot is tiring..."
Seriously? Outside of the mobility-impaired, there is no reason at all why a normal healthy individual (and the environment) wouldn't be better served by walking that short distance or riding a bicycle. On a "green" auto blog, we should be looking for ways to reduce our energy use - not increase it.
KK 1:09PM (10/22/2009)
1.5 miles is a 20-minute walk. I wouldn't call it tiring myself, but I imagine many people would. For example, imagine someone who walks 15 minutes to the train station, several minutes to change trains, then gets off at one end of the square and make the 20-minute walk - and then do it all over in the evening to get home.
And bicycles aren't an option for most rail/bus commuters. Train stations usually don't have long-term bicycle parking, and most subways are too crowded to carry a bicycle onto (at least in Europe and Asia).
KK 1:10PM (10/22/2009)
Sorry, I meant 1.5 km.
Tim 11:01AM (10/22/2009)
I used to see these in front of the Grocery Store when I was a child.
Where do you put in the quarter for a ride?
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gorr 11:57AM (10/22/2009)
What about circulating these cars on automated city ramps, no more traffic jam, fewer footprint as the ramps don't occupied lot of landspace, lower cost to build per miles, no intersections, etc.
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charon2 12:27PM (10/22/2009)
Well at least we know where their inspiration is coming from.
http://sinisterdextral.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/unbranded-cozy-coupe-ii-car-little-tikes.jpg
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