Coming soon: Cars which would allow drivers 'to eat and sleep'

Imagine cars that would allow you to eat, read, watch television and even sleep behind the wheel while travelling at a speed of 70 mph on the highway.

Your imagination could someday turn into a reality, thanks to scientists who claim to have developed lasers-guided vehicles, using a system which will lock cars using sensors as well as wireless technology, allowing up to ten at a time to cruise in "car train" convoys.

And, according to the scientists at Volvo, the sensors will synchronise each car to follow in the wake of the vehicle which is directly ahead, with a laser calculating the speed relative to other cars at a rate of 50 times a second.

Interestingly, the only steering and braking would be done by a professional driver at the front of the convoy.

"It would be the same as sitting on a bus or a train, with the big difference that when you come to your exit you take over and you go directly to your destination without having to switch vehicles.

"The professional driver leading the convoy will be responsible for the safety of those behind him. But, those joining the convoy will be taking only the same sort of risks that those jumping on a bus or tube are taking," Jonas Ekmark, a safety researcher at Volvo cars, told the Daily Mail.

Volvo expects the cars to drive just three feet apart in order to stay in contact. The drivers would then join the convoy at the back and allow the system to lock them in to the steering and braking patterns of the vehicles ahead.

At the point where the driver has booked to leave the convoy, their car would be guided by the new technology on to their chosen slip road, the scientists said.

The system would even allow the car train to overtake slow-moving vehicles, according to them. Volvo and six other companies — including British technology firm Ricardo UK — are working on the project.

They hope to start testing the system at Volvo's practice roads outside Gothenburg, in Sweden, in late 2010 and expect to launch a prototype in 2011. The technology could then be rolled out across Europe by 2018.