[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/5754\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EParma-Shanghai: 15 000 km without a driver\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe two orange vans of the VIAC project (VisLab Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge) do not really look like any other that you would see on the road. Because of their colour? Yes, but also because of the many sensors, cameras, satellite transceivers and solar panels that protrude from their bodywork.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn mid-summer 2010, these two vehicles left Parma for the huge trip to Shanghai. A trip accomplished in three months\u2026 without a driver, or nearly.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018It was on the occasion of the World Expo of Shanghai,\u2019 said Prof. Alberto Broggi, who took advantage of the advanced grant he was awarded by the European Research Council to develop this project. He is the director of the VisLab, a laboratory active in theoretical and applied research on environmental perception \u2013 a field of applied research that includes intelligent vehicles.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe vans left Parma on 20 July and arrived safely in Shanghai on 28 October, driving over 15\u0026nbsp;000 kilometres. Each vehicle had a series of cameras and laser scanners. By fusing the information coming from these tools, the scientists reconstructed the 3-D surroundings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe first van was partly driven by a human, especially in cities or densely populated areas. The second vehicle followed it. If the first vehicle was visible, then the second one simply followed. If they lost sight of each other, the second van would then rely on the GPS positions sent by the first van to find its way around.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENeedless to say, when these transcontinental vehicles arrived in Shanghai, they were the main attraction of the EU pavilion at the Expo!\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-bkecjkrf-ubwr039gcfezpton8ja5h7cd9dpgjddo6u\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-bkEcJKrf_ubWr039GcfEZptON8JA5H7cd9DPGJDdo6U\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]