PARIS, March 28 (Xinhua) -- French car manufacturer PSA started on Tuesday to test autonomous vehicles with non-professional drivers behind the wheels, the first such driving test on the country's open highways, the group said in a statement.
During two-day operation, PSA offered to "non-experts" opportunities to test the group's self-driving vehicles as a driver or passenger on the road of the Paris region, as part of "Autonomous Vehicle for All" (AVA) project.
With the program, the French group aims to "to make autonomous cars accessible to the greatest number of users by offering cars that simplify everyday life, thereby freeing up time while aboard, in an ever-safer way."
Furthermore, it was working "to bring together a large range of functions that will gradually lead to the partial, and later total, delegation of the driving to the car itself, if the driver wishes so."
Scheduled to start in 2018, automated driving functions will include "The Connected Pilot" which offers assistance in speed and trajectory control, parking without the driver help, identifying obstacles and increasing night visibility.
Looking to 2020, PSA aims "to enable the driver to completely delegate the driving to the vehicle," according to the statement.
