Self-driving car route Okayed by Prague

Slovakia and the Czech Republic will engage in cooperation on the preparatory stage of a cross-border testing track for autonomous and connected vehicles, according to a meeting held by Slovakia's Vice-premier for Investments and Informatisation Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) and Czech Transport Minister Dan Ťok in Prague on Tuesday. The automobile industry stands on the brink of enormous change, and in the next few years its products won't simply be cars but mobility per se, said Pellegrini, adding that technology will make up a growing portion of a vehicle's price. The Czech transport minister pointed out that, with their combined outputs, Slovakia and the Czech Republic produce more vehicles annually than France, and automobile powers must also secure the position of innovation leaders and ensure that the technology of autonomous and connected vehicles forms part and parcel of carmaker innovation. Because of this, Prague charted a plan to build a closed testing track for these vehicles as well as a city testing track. Tok considers Pellegrini's initiative to construct a cross-border track to be unique in Europe. He's sure that if such testing isn't conducted between the two countries that used to form Czechoslovakia, it will be created somewhere else. Work on the preparation stage of the project is slated to begin in the next few weeks.