A 13.000 km intercontinental trip with driverless vehicles: the VIAC experiment

In recent years the interest in autonomous vehicles has incrementally increased. After the DARPA Challenges new fields of application as agricultural, construction, mining, and also nautical are continuously opening up. In this paper a huge test is presented, the first of this kind in the history of vehicular robotics. A trip from Italy to China with four electric autonomous vehicles will be described focusing on all aspects of the challenge, from the managing issues to the most technical ones. A vehicle-following application (or virtual towing) is the system under test for a three consecutive months and 13,000 km long unique experience.