Australian designer Charles Rattray has let imagination run wild with his Autonomo 2030 concept car pictured below. He envisions a fully autonomous electric car with a multi-layer nano-scale surface which includes solar cells. Windows can be switched between opaque and fully-transparent modes. Multiple such cars can automatically travel together in distances of 20 cm thus significantly reducing drag and energy consumption. The autonomo is not much longer but significantly narrower than the Mini and can carry up to two adults seated behind each other. Linked in a flock, two Autonomo vehicles should be able to use a single lane on many streets. Combined with inter-vehicle communication and synchronization this should do much to eliminate traffic jams.For more info see the detailed concept.

Autonomo 2030 Concept Car

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Agriculture is full of opportunities for driverless approaches. German farm equipment vendor Fendt (a subsidiary of AGCO) hast developed a technology ‘Guide-Connect’ to let a tractor operate without driver. The tractor is not fully autonomous; instead it follows another human operated tractor and replicates its actions. A GPS sensor allows it to identify the location where the lead tractor initiates operations such as engaging gears, lowering tools etc. The driverless tractor then performs the same action when it arrives at the corresponding location. The movie below (narration in German) shows the tandem in operation.

Guide-Connect won a Gold Medal for innovation at the 2011 Agritechnica industry fair. The technology is not limited to simple follow-me scenarios. It can also handle obstacles and turns.