France Wants Driverless Trains By 2023, Autonomous Transportation On Rails

Everyone knew it was coming, but France is one of the first to jump headfirst into the breach. After driverless cars, analysts have been waiting on companies to start introducing driverless commercial aircraft and driverless boats. Now, France has revealed that it wants autonomous trains to transport passengers by the year 2023.

It would seem that France’s SNFC national railway office is game when it comes to making the trains under its jurisdiction operation even without an actual operator in the lead cart. As of right now, the country’ railway system, which is called TGV in French abbreviation, is being driven by humans. By 2019, however, France would like testing the prototype for trains that don’t require real drivers.

With regards to the concerns that a lot of people might have when it comes to driverless vehicles, especially ones as powerful as trains, their worries are understandable. However, as Futurism pointed out, it’s all about testing and refining the technology that is going to be powering these driverless vehicles.

France also has some of the strictest policies when it comes to the testing and implementation of technology related to the auto industry, so it’s worth taking that into consideration. What’s more, the TGVs by the SNFC already have substantial safety protocols installed in order to make sure that passengers will always be secure.

There’s the automatic brake system, for example, which will halt trains going at tops speeds of over 200 mph in a few seconds. Then there are the sensors that are capable of detecting obstacles in the path of the train well before visual range.

In the event that something does go wrong, the trains will also be given remote-control capabilities, so humans can take over if there’s an issue. Looking at all the preparations so far, it would seem that France is adamant to make this goal a reality.