Volvo initiates pilot project for self-driving cars

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Look ma, no hands! The day will yet come when you can read a book and chat away on the phone in a car without a care in the world. Volvo is one of the companies setting out to make this dream a reality – the automaker is set to play the leading role in the world’s first large-scale autonomous driving pilot project, which will see 100 self-driving Volvo cars using public roads in everyday driving conditions.

The ‘Drive Me – Self-driving cars for sustainable mobility’ pilot, as it’s called, will commence in 2014 and will involve self-driving cars using approximately 50 km of selected roads in and around the Swedish city of Gothenburg. The chosen routes will be typical commuter arteries, and will include motorway conditions and frequent queues.

The 100 Volvo cars driven by customers will be new models developed on the company’s upcoming Scalable Product Architecture (SPA), and are defined as Highly Autonomous Cars, according to the official definition by the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) in Germany.

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Essentially, this means that the responsibility is handed over to the vehicle, which can handle all driving functions at the driver’s discretion. The driver is expected to be available for occasional control, but with a sufficiently comfortable transition time.

The project also includes fully automated parking, without a driver in the car. This allows the driver to walk away from the car at the parking entrance, while the vehicle finds a vacant spot and parks by itself.

The joint initiative between Volvo Car Group, the Swedish Transport Administration, the Swedish Transport Agency, Lindholmen Science Park and the City of Gothenburg, aims to pinpoint the societal benefits of autonomous driving. It’s also looking at positioning the country and Volvo as leaders in the development of future mobility.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • SAMLOH on Dec 04, 2013 at 4:48 pm

    for sure max summons will get.. not a good rv

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 14
  • sonyman on Dec 04, 2013 at 5:07 pm

    fu yoh, cars driving on their own now. Soon we can do more work since cars can drive you from home to office and back. no more excuse for not answering the phone.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 17 Thumb down 0
  • Mahathir Gen 2 on Dec 04, 2013 at 5:16 pm

    Can somebody tell me whats the point of having this useless technology?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 40
    • Carfox on Dec 04, 2013 at 5:43 pm

      It reduces driver error and subsequently, crashes. Too many people busying themselves with phones and food behind the wheel these days.

      But most of all, not everyone is a driving enthusiast and see cars as simply an appliance to get around. They’d rather not drive if they could.

      I, for one welcome the move. Too many stupid drivers around cutting in and out of traffic without signalling.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 32 Thumb down 0
    • Pontiac on Dec 04, 2013 at 5:51 pm

      So i dont have to use my hand and foot and 0 calories la. Thats y u say “use-less”

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
      • This car can’t be applied in Malaysian road.. haha

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 2
        • Passerby on Dec 04, 2013 at 11:37 pm

          i hope they will intro to bolehland first… since here we got too many boleh driver driving recklessly everyday, cutting queve and jumping light… at least the computer behave more than human and following the traffic rules… subsequently reducing accident rate…

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0
        • volvo should use malaysian roads as their primary testing site. if it works here, it works anywhere in the world.

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
    • Some people aren’t as good as driving cars as other people, even purist desire the cars to do the driving espacially in congested roads.
      Put it this way, if you have to drive throu dense traffic after spending 30 hours awake with no food in your stomach for 12 hours counting your miserable luck(yes there are people who do this), well, now you can at least take a nap in your car without stoping at petrol stands and take 10mins nap before continuing on.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
    • Daydream Technology on Dec 04, 2013 at 10:11 pm

      True. If they don’t want to drive, why don’t they take public transport?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 5
      • carguy2000 on Dec 05, 2013 at 6:30 am

        walking ? eww..

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 3
      • McLaren01 on Dec 05, 2013 at 12:08 pm

        it’s depend. Most of the Malaysia have car. Doesn’t mean all want to drive. As no choice OR some need as AVH mention.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • McLaren01 on Dec 05, 2013 at 12:04 pm

      It’s a technology… Main purpose of car is transportation. it’s serve the purpose. When it’s new tech, ppl ask why do we need. When it become part of our life, ppl cannot live without it. that’s human nature..

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
  • soon no one needs a driving license, just make sure you can afford a self drive car will do..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 0
  • vodka on Dec 04, 2013 at 5:49 pm

    Watch the video of Volvo’s automatic braking system fail at a press demo. Wonder how their auto driving feature will fare. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNi17YLnZpg

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 4
    • Carfox on Dec 04, 2013 at 8:08 pm

      Well here’s a Volvo V40 beating a more expensive S-Class Mercedes. I’d say they’re on the right track. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_ZNG8cmnlw

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0
  • drMpower on Dec 04, 2013 at 6:40 pm

    the car that drives itself has been invented. its called TAXI

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 5
    • zamer on Dec 04, 2013 at 7:11 pm

      very funny to see a joker trying to make a joke which strangely the joke make them stupid

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 9
      • drMpower on Dec 04, 2013 at 9:16 pm

        Haha call what u like dude. Its a world famous jokes btw. Too bad u are busy doing whatever shite. Small dude doing small stuffs no one give shite about

        Get a life nutty

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 6
      • bonbon on Dec 05, 2013 at 2:15 pm

        i think u are their potential buyer… wah,,really rich aa?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
    • Chris on Dec 04, 2013 at 11:31 pm

      B-b-but we need to find a home for Tiddles… even if it’s slightly panicky when it drives itself XD

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • nzain on Dec 04, 2013 at 7:03 pm

    self-driving cars…sounds cool…so during that moment u can dreaming..do something notty..or sleeping perhaps..LOL

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • It is a cool tech, and I for one welcome it, I am tired of stopping for power naps. Anyways, I dont think the system will be feasable in Malaysia anytime soon. compared with city like Gothenberg, Malaysia in contrast has a planning done by a Chimpanzee high on Marijuana, the roads appears and dissappear out of fancy and signboard to tell you which road you have missed. And than we have the drivers, some take the road with such poor situational awareness to the point they could completely fail to notice a Boeing 747 in their inches behind their blind spot. I don’t think even Volvo’s computer can compute enough variables to completely avoid a accident in a Malaysian city.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 1
  • AUSNSW on Dec 04, 2013 at 8:41 pm

    Volvo is a very safety car brand….So if you want safe..u can make volvo a choice.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
  • policeman on Dec 04, 2013 at 9:11 pm

    I’ll get this car. Run over my boss and say it wasn’t me, the car malfunctioned.

    Will be more believable if it is a Proton.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 2
  • dugong on Dec 04, 2013 at 9:31 pm

    So if got accidents or saman volvo bear the cost? I mean u can drive properly but there are lots of idiots who just suddenly cut into your lane and expect ppl to jam brake.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • niterunner99 on Dec 04, 2013 at 9:41 pm

    its good to hv safety features…never too much of it.
    BUT if it’s taking the FUN out of driving…then i’ll take public transport. Save my $$.
    (from that pic shown, that woman could be doing a side way drifting in a Volvo R & still talking away!)

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • fast5 on Dec 04, 2013 at 11:02 pm

    Bye bye to “wasting my energy in traffic jam” finally i can sleep in the car well back home or to office :)
    Too bad it need to wait a cheaper technology with mass production…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • no hands. scare. how. so danger. women. wow.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
  • Summicron on Dec 05, 2013 at 1:55 am

    Dream car for city roads. God I hate city driving.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Josh Ling on Dec 05, 2013 at 4:57 am

    Definitely cannot work in Malaysia. not to mention autonomous driving still have its own risk. relying on the technology too much will blunt the ability of making instant moves by the driver, even though the system is capable of “over-written” by driver’s input. so when the driver’s input is needed during some emergency or out-of-expectation moment, he/she might not be able to make the right decision, hence might lead to a real disaster.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • heybadigol on Dec 05, 2013 at 5:43 am

    Give it a British voice and the red swooshing lights in the hood, than we can call it KITT!! And dont forget to add turbo boost while at it. Haha.

    On a more serious not. Google has been doing this for a few years with their autonomous cars. But only in the US I believe. Read that it was used to ferry people before. Plus, its not yet perfect and has had some accidents.

    Its a good idea, for sure. Just dont bring it up to enthusiasts. Its helpful when one is tired or when crawling in slow moving traffic. Or when parking. But if you can drive on your own, please do so.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • junaidi on Dec 05, 2013 at 9:10 am

    Its a good technology to implement for asians as asians cant drive for nuts.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • jolly_idiot on Dec 05, 2013 at 9:40 am

    If someone can afford this car with such technology. I’m pretty sure they can afford to hire a driver too. It gives back the same result and even more boss feel.

    Besides, what means driving when the car move itself? It’s no more driving feel.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • art appreciator on Dec 05, 2013 at 12:25 pm

    This is marvelous. Fantastic as it may seem, after so many decades of conventional driving, humanity will need a great deal of time to learn to adapt to this new technology. =D I don’t know about most people, but I don’t think I personally will be able to get over letting go of maneuvering the car. The carnal fear of a fatal collision always looms in my head despite everything. =/

    Just a thought – if this technology happens to become popular and is implemented, road rules the world over might be in for some really big changes!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • disgruntledBMWowner on Dec 06, 2013 at 10:01 am

    Wow kudos to Volvo. The most humble and genuine among all luxury cars in Malaysia. Fair price too. Lets hope they will keep looking better and better. Really eager to wait for a new S40. Hope it will look good and maintain the reasonable pricing…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • Scarlet Rose on Dec 07, 2013 at 10:48 am

    Hope it can trace and avoid all the lubang as well,

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • JDMftw on Dec 07, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    Volvo keeps copying Japanese…

    Honda and Toyota has already succeeded in auto pilot cars, now final stage of checking and stuff before entering production.

    Volvo also copied Subaru’s eyesight technology

    Go search up. Japanese are the pioneers of these technologies

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1
 

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