Similar to its Drive Me project which will be carried out in Sweden, Volvo is looking to get up to 100 of its autonomous vehicles on the streets of China. It plans to test its driverless tech on public roads and in everyday driving situations there.
No timeline has been set, but the Swedish car maker said that it will begin negotiations with interested cities in the coming months. It will need to find a city with the necessary permissions, regulations and infrastructure suitable to its project.
“Autonomous driving can make a significant contribution to road safety,” said Hakan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo. The car maker has long stood by its commitment that no one will be seriously injured or killed in a new Volvo by year 2020, and believes that driverless vehicles will aid its cause.
Speaking about China’s positive progress with developing autonomous driving technologies, the Volvo boss added that he wishes to speed up the implementation of the necessary regulations in the future. “There are multiple benefits of autonomous driving cars,” he said. “That is why governments need to put in place the legislation to allow autonomous vehicles onto the streets as soon as possible. The car industry cannot do it all by itself. We need governmental help.”
Volvo believes that driverless vehicles can greatly help to reduce road accidents in China. It states that up to 90% of all road accidents are caused by human error, and autonomous vehicles eliminate this issue. Congestion, pollution and time saving are other areas Volvo plans to improve with its driverless tech.
“It is natural for us to work together,” Samuelsson said. “Our starting point is that both the public and private sectors stand to benefit from new technologies and industries, so it is better to build bridges and work together than to all go in different directions.”
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I think the Russians need it more than the Chinese.
In Russia, car drives you!
You may choose safety first or affordable first.
Volvo starting price at 170K
ya they can blame 90% of all accidents are due to human errors, but they might have forgotten it takes humans to build all the parts and technologies required for autonomous cars as well. i believe some autonomous safety features can save lives, but is full automation really safer than what is currently being offered in the market? I have my doubts, coz humans is still prone to errors, no matter what kind of circumstances. and what will happen if the parts and/or the technology contain certain untraceable and undetectable flaws, that can only be found and detected, and probably solved (just probably, coz many issues are yet to be solved in many other areas) when some major accidents occurred?
autonomous cars = 100% safe cars? ya right, if titanic were really unsinkable….
If you want to know whether it succeed or not come and do the trial in Malaysia.