Prototype Car Travels from Paris to Bordeaux in Autonomous Mode

An autonomous Peugeot Citroën has driven itself all the way from Paris to Bordeaux, a distance of 360 miles (580 km).
(Credit: PSA Peugeot Citroën)

On Oct. 2 one of PSA Peugeot Citroën’s four autonomous vehicles traveled the motorway from Paris to Bordeaux to take part in Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) World Congress, which was held Oct. 5–9.

The 580-km 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.

In July 2015 PSA Peugeot Citroën became the first carmaker to obtain the relevant authorizations to carry out open road tests using four autonomous prototypes and some 15 such models in 2016.

PSA Peugeot Citroën is working to develop solutions and technologies to make the car of tomorrow smarter, the carmaker said, to enhance driver comfort and adapt to changing customer behavior 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.

“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,” said Carlos Tavares, chairman of the managing board of PSA Peugeot Citroën.

At the ITS World Congress PSA Peugeot Citroën presented its car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication systems, along with its autonomous vehicle. The 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.