Swiss telecom company starts tests with self-driving car

Swisscom has announced that it plans to experiment with self-driving cars. To this end, the company has fitted a conventional car with sensors and special software. With the tests, Swisscom mainly wants to work on future network technologies.

A top man of the telecom provider has announced plans for self-driving cars, Physorg reported on Tuesday. The Swiss have succeeded in turning a conventional Volkswagen Passat into a self-driving car. To achieve this, the necessary sensors and computer technology have been built in. Special software has also been developed. Both laser and radar are used to detect traffic around the car. There are also video cameras on board.

Swisscom emphasizes that it has no plans to become a car manufacturer. With the experiments, the telecom provider wants to do research into what the network technology of the future will look like: a self-driving car must have communication protocols on board, and Swisscom wants to have that technology in-house.

The self-driving Volkswagen Passat is currently being tested on the streets of Zurich. The tests will run until Thursday. It has not yet been announced what plans Swisscom has after that.