January 1 2017 promises to be an interesting day on the roads of Gothenburg, Sweden. It will mark the start of a two-year test scheme involving 100 fully autonomous – or self-driving – Volvos.
On that day, city locals caught up in the rush hour grind may very well cause a disproportionate number of traffic incidents by being distracted by the amazing self-driving cars they’re running alongside. But Volvo, being Volvo, will probably have thought of that. The long-term plan is for autonomous cars to make roads in Sweden – and around the world – significantly safer places to be by eliminating human error.
The test scheme, which has been created by Volvo but is supported by city authorities, road network stake-holders and the Swedish government, will be the first in the world to put autonomous cars into the hands of ordinary drivers, in amongst normal daily traffic, in significant numbers. It’s a bit of a landmark in the development story of the modern car. And Volvo gave me an idea what life will be like for the ‘drivers’ of those pioneering test cars yesterday, after a ride in one of its ‘driverless’ prototypes.
An S60 with one or two extra little boxes taped to the bodywork, this early development car primarily used only the hardware already fitted as part of Volvo’s existing active safety systems, together with some updated control software, for eyes. The finished test cars will be more advanced – although exactly how much more will depend on how much Volvo’s market research suggests that people are willing to pay for autonomous technology.
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Oilburner
Decades?
I take your point about the legal and insurance difficulties in accepting this technology, but only a few years ago when I was first talking about this kind of technology I was laughed at because every man and his dog "knew" that self-driving cars would never happen. Very few could see it, fewer still believed it could actually happen.
Now they're actually here and just need polishing off, I think we're talking years, not decades before taxi drivers will need to start looking for another job. The insurance companies will love self-driving cars because there will still be laws requiring car insurance, but there will be fewer and fewer claims. So they won't oppose it. Governments will be slower, but it's only a matter of time because the economic benefits of autonomous cars (and then vans and lorries) will be huge. How much does the typical death cost on UK roads, around £1m I believe? How much money could haulage companies make by having vans and lorries running 24/7? How much more efficient could our roads be if computer controlled cars speed swiftly along a few feet apart as enormous trains across the land? How much cheaper is that than building massive new railways? The costs of congestion could be wiped out in the time it takes one generation of cars to dominate the roads, i.e. less than 10 years.
These cars will be here sooner, rather than later, IMHO.
HumberView
First line
Smilerforce
No more rip off taxi fares!
fadyady
The later the better
bomb
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winniethewoo
200 mile commute! My god
Paul Dalgarno
Hmmmm...
I can't believe a relatively small manufacturer such as Volvo is throwing money at this.
Moparman
The pound of flesh
nicfaz
Soon please
Finally, we must work towards having the shortest possible transition phase where the driver still has to be sitting ready to take control. It's probably necessary, but as soon as I can be sitting in the back asleep during a boring motorway journey, the better. I'll save my energy for seeking out some proper driving on b-roads and welsh mountain passess.
Moparman
Not so fast
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