Driverless vans journey from Italy to China

Two driverless vehicles, equipped with laser scanners and cameras to detect and help avoid obstacles, arrived unscathed after a 13,000-kilometer road trip from Italy to Shanghai.
The vans were equipped with four solar-powered laser scanners and seven video cameras that worked together to avoid obstacles.
The sensors on the vehicles enabled them to navigate through wide extremes in road, traffic and weather conditions.
They carried researchers as passengers in case of emergencies, who did have to intervene a few times like when the vehicles got snarled in a Moscow traffic jam and to handle toll stations.
The driverless vehicles are part of an experiment sponsored by the European Research Council aimed at improving road safety and advancing automotive technology.
The Hindu.com reports the vehicles ran at maximum speeds of 60 kilometers per hour and had to be recharged for eight hours after every two to three hours of driving.