No drivers needed for this truck

WARREN (WJRT) (WJRT) -- (04/04/07)-- They've been telling us for years the cars of the future won't need drivers.

Well, General Motors and several partners are working on just such a vehicle.

 In a parking lot at the General Motors Tech Center in Warren, a 2007 Chevy Tahoe is driving around a pre-planned course. GM, Carnegie Mellon University and some other organizations are hoping the Tahoe is a winner in an international contest.

The federal government is sponsoring a race where driverless vehicles will navigate through a 60-mile course that will include merging traffic, stop signs and busy intersections.

GM calls its entry in the race "the Boss." Red Whittaker works with Tartan Racing.  "The technology that's driving the Boss is the best of laser ranging, radars and camera vision."

That's what all the gear on top is for; to know where the vehicle is and what's near it.  "All these are devices let you know what is immediately around the vehicle; cars, pedestrians and objects," said Alan Taub, from GM Research and Development.

The back of the Boss is stuffed full of computers that take all the data from on top and steer the vehicle safely down the road.  Although there's an engineer behind the wheel, he's not touching any of the controls. The computer is doing all the work.

Why work on a driverless car? Because the technology used here could make your future commutes safer.

"The technology will absolutely get into the consumer market a step at a time," predicted Whittaker.

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