After making its 2 October debut with a trip in autonomous mode from Paris to Bordeaux, the PSA Peugeot Citroën prototype recently crossed the French border to complete a loop of around 3,000km running from Paris to Madrid via Vigo.

The prototype received a warm welcome from Spain's deputy prime minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamarίa, who said: 'There's no need to think about the future today, because it's already here. Before we know it, this vehicle will be the normal means of getting around on tomorrow's roads.'

On the way back, the prototype went through Perpignan, Marseilles and Lyon before returning to the Group's Vélizy technical centre in Greater Paris. Autonomous mode was used throughout the journey on authorised stretches of road, without driver involvement. The car autonomously adjusted its speed and changed lanes to overtake, taking into account other vehicles, speed limits and infrastructure.

In July 2015, the Group became the first carmaker to be authorised to carry out open road tests in France using four autonomous prototypes, which have so far driven more than 10,000 test kilometres. In 2016, PSA will have about 15 such prototypes in its fleet. The extension of the authorisations to Spain is allowing the R&D teams to develop autonomous vehicle functions beyond the French road network.

Commenting on the road trip, Gilles Le Borgne, Executive Vice President, Research and Development for PSA Peugeot Citroën, said: 'I am proud to see the autonomous vehicle developed by our teams in the Paris region technical centres crossing borders in Europe. The road trip through Spain has been made possible by working closely with the Automotive Technology Centre of Galicia (CTAG) in particular to address the challenges of human-machine interfacing in autonomous mode. This technological feat is a critical step towards shaping the mobility of the future.'

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