Researchers will soon begin testing automated cars on Virginia Roadways. But the advent of truly driverless cars is still pretty far down the road. On the outside this looks like any normal Cadillac SRX a sleek, a 2013 luxury SUV. But it’s been retrofitted with screens and sensors. A small antenna on top with a GPS and Wi-Fi receiver detecting obstacles ahead, in this case, a tester wearing what looks like a construction worker’s vest containing a transmitter. “So if I’m normally driving by and a construction worker steps out in front of us, we get a warning,” says Andy Petersen, Director for Technology Development at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute in Blacksburg. “It was a close call, but this technology might have just saved a construction worker getting hit.” Or a cyclist, a motorcycle driver, another car or a telephone poll. “The whole idea behind this newer technology is to try and kill less people on the roads. Roads are dangerous and how do you make them less
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