Self-Driving Van Makes It To China

I posted about the four electric vans that split for China a couple of months ago. Well, 8 000 miles later, the ghost-drvien machines reached its destination. It went through several countries and the rough terrain Asia has to offer including the Gobi desert, busy motorways, blizzards and rain.

The van is on display at the Shanghai 2010 Auto Expo.

Excerpt from the article:

Using a system called the Generic Obstacle and Lane Detector, or GOLD, these two vans were able to pretty much guide themselves across the two continents.

The vehicles were equipped with four solar-powered laser scanners and seven video cameras that work together to detect and avoid obstacles, are part of an experiment aimed at improving road safety and advancing automotive technology.

Space Projects Still Get Go Ahead

Even though Italy's space budget stayed flat for 2010.