As technology is advancing day by day, ground breaking developments in the car industry are expected to take place in coming years. However, Swedish car manufacturer, Volvo has already set the ball rolling as it recently announced that the company will begin trail of self-driven cars by 2017. The company has already revealed that it will start the development procedure of autonomous vehicles, which would not require any driver. Reportedly, Volvo along with Swedish Transportation Administration, Swedish Transport Agency, Lindholmen Science Park and Gothenburg local government will be working on a joint initiative named Drive Me from 2014.
Under this project, the first and foremost concern will be the development of a such technology along with setting up of customer clinics. Reportedly, the researchers involved in this project will try to examine the advantages of autonomous driving, traffic efficiency, road safety and at the same time will try and understand the reaction of people to a driverless car. The initiative taken by the company is all a part of the experiment to make the streets safer with the use of robotic cars.
Speaking on the same, Hakan Samuelsson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Volvo Car Group said “Autonomous vehicles are an integrated part of Volvo Cars’ as well as the Swedish government’s vision of zero traffic fatalities. This public pilot represents an important step towards this goal. It will give us an insight into the technological challenges at the same time as we get valuable feedback from real customers driving on public roads.”
As already told by the company, it would first test 100 self-driving cars on the streets of Gothenburg by 2017. The company is claiming that it will make use of the sensors from the car to analyse the driving data apart from the use of clouds and on-board radar. This would help in navigating the car easily through traffic and people around. Furthermore, the controls like steering, accelerator and brakes will be controlled through the satellite system. The car would also boasts of a self-park feature and if the driver wishes to drive the car on his own, a disengage button would be present as well. According to reports, the design of self-driven cars will be inspired from the Scalable Product Architecture platform, which was recently showcased.
While Erik Coelingh, Technical Specialist at Volvo Car Group was quoted as saying, “Our aim is for the car to be able to handle all possible traffic scenarios by itself, including leaving the traffic flow and finding a safe harbour if the driver for any reason is unable to regain control. Smart vehicles are part of the solution, but a broad societal approach is also necessary to offer sustainable personal mobility in the future.”
The project is scheduled to begin from 2014 with customer research and technology development being the primary focus. The first self-driving car to make roads in Gothenburg is expected to roll out by 2017.
