14 DAY TRIAL // As part of their efforts to green up the global transportation industry, Volvo has been trying for some time now to make their SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) concept become a reality.
The idea behind this project is quite simple: all one has to do is take the principles governing the ways in which trains move on their tracks, and apply them to your run-off-the-mill vehicles presently roaming the highways.
Thus, one lead truck, driven by a professional, will function as the “locomotive,” whilst all the other cars simply line up behind it. Apparently, this allows people to have their car take them places without having to actually drive it.
From an environmental standpoint, having cars roam the highways so close together will translate into significantly reduced fuel consumption, thanks to the laws of aerodynamics.
Sources say one such “road train” was recently successfully tested in Spain, so it may very well be that this technology will soon be made available to the general public.
However, Volvo has so far kept quiet on this topic.