Most of us are familiar with the automated cars at Google’s campus, but there are some other major manufacturers that are developing their own such vehicle. With any luck, in most of our lifetimes we will have the opportunity to ride in one of these on our own streets without having to pass the extensive interview process of working at Google! As a matter of fact, Volvo has devised a program in which they will put these autonomous vehicles to the test on the streets in Sweden. The car manufacturer announced recently that it has launched a pilot project dubbed “Drive Me — Self-driving cars for sustainable mobility,” which will bring 100 self-driving Volvo cars onto city streets. The project will take place on about 50 kilometers of busy roads in the Swedish city of Gothenburg. Key word here being busy. Volvo must be extremely confident of their innovative design.
The self-driving vehicles to be used in Drive Me are defined as “highly autonomous cars.” This means the automobile can handle all driving functions the driver requires except for time-to-time scenarios that are a bit more tricky. These issues could be easily eliminated if all of the cars on the road were self-driven and somehow linked together via a universal communication system. The cars will also be able to park themselves without the driver in the car. The first model that Volvo will launch is the all-new Volvo XC90, which is set to be unveiled in 2014.
Google has been leading the industry in developing self-driving technology for the past couple of years and is now said to be looking for car company partners. In the meantime, several automobile manufacturers have also gotten into various aspects of the autonomous driving game, including Audi, Mercedes Benz, Cadillac, Ford, Nissan, Delphi, Toyota and Tesla.
Volvo’s Drive Me project will start in 2014, but the first cars aren’t expected on the road until 2017.
