Researchers in the European Union are using telematics to create "road trains" that join the benefits of carpooling with the freedom of driving alone.

The latest concept, part of the EU's Safe Road Trains for the Environment initiative, groups cars with similar destinations into road trains over long stretches of highway. The lead vehicle will be driven by an experienced motorist – it may even be a bus that regularly travels the route – while the functions of each following vehicle will be automatically controlled and tethered to the actions of the lead car so that individual drivers can hammer out e-mails or eat breakfast. Despite the project's name, cars can exit at any time.

While the project, which goes by the acronym SARTRE, sounds futuristic, all it requires are navigation systems that communicate with the lead vehicle and control acceleration and steering. The project's lead agencies estimate that vehicles will begin testing in 2011 and say a full-scale rollout is likely within a decade.

According to Ricardo UK, the firm in charge of SARTRE, no infrastructure investment will be necessary.

"By developing and implementing the technology at a vehicle level, SARTRE aims to realise the potentially very significant safety and environmental benefits of road trains without the need to invest in changes to road infrastructure," project coordinator Tom Robinson said in a statement.

At the same time, Ricardo estimates that fuel savings from efficiency and aerodynamics gains will be upwards of 20 percent, while road capacity will increase at the same time that accidents from distracted or drowsy drivers decrease.

"This type of autonomous driving actually doesn’t require any hocus-pocus technology, and no investment in infrastructure," said Erik Coelingh of Volvo, one of the principal companies participating in the project. "Instead, the emphasis is on development and on adapting technology that is already in existence."

Photo of traffic on Highway 401 in Ontario: Flickr / David Vincent Johnson. Graphic of the road train: Ricardo UK. Can't read it? Download the full-size graphic here.