Reaching your destination, safer driving

Miles of traffic jams and too many red lights are annoying elements of driving that might soon become a thing of the past. The solution is called networked driving, where cars are constantly exchanging information on their speed and location and warning each other about traffic jams. Lane keeping assist and emergency braking systems have already been around for a while, but the technology is becoming more and more advanced. German automotive supplier Continental, for example, has developed a 
camera that can detect children and wheelchair users ahead and warn the driver. Particularly clever systems communicate with the infrastructure – for example, with traffic lights. Experts call them vehicular communication 
systems. In 2015, Siemens will be testing how well data transmission really works on a 1,300-kilometre test route from Rotterdam to Vienna via Frankfurt. Networking is also the basis of autonomous driving: the driver gets in, leans back, and the car does the rest – leaving the driver to get on with more important things. The global pioneer in this field is Internet giant Google; the company presented its first driverless car in spring 2014. The project was 
developed by the German robotics expert Sebastian Thrun. ▪