Newly invented automated car runs on snow-covered road in Finland

HELSINKI, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Automated solutions usually require that lane markings of a road are visible, but Finnish vehicle "Martti", developed at the Finnish technical research center VTT, will follow detailed GPS and positioning information on its route.

In the tests this week in Finnish Lapland, the vehicle once ran at 40 kilometers per hour, which was an unofficial world record for automated automobiles on real roads.

Matti Kutila, project manager at VTT, told business daily Kauppalehti that Martti could have been even speedier, but in test driving it is programmed not to exceed the limit of 40 km/h. The aim is to increase it to 60 km/h.

Kutila underlined the development of dedicated maps. VTT has developed the tools for producing maps. Kutila said the system produces a map of a two-kilometer stretch in half an hour.

The record test was carried out in Muonio, northwestern Finland, on an intelligent road. Kutila reminded, however, that the fact that that part of E8 is an intelligent road did not really help Martti a lot. "The road has no beacons, for example, that would have helped Martti to proceed", he said.

Ari Virtanen, who was in charge of building the car, said Martti clearly has a very determined mindset.

Martti was developed on the chassis of Volkswagen Touareg.

While Martti is a Finnish male first name, another automated test vehicle of VTT is named Marilyn. VTT describes the two autos as "a couple".

"Martti has been designed for demanding weather conditions and Marilyn shines as the queen of urban areas," said Kutila.

Both cars are equipped with cameras, antennas, sensors and laser scanners. The number and placement of sensors differs between the vehicles.

Next year, a third individual is to be developed for difficult terrain, off the road conditions. Enditem