Swedish automobile manufacturer Volvo Car Group will play a key role in the world's first large-scale autonomous driving pilot project, 'Drive Me – Self-driving cars for sustainable mobility', in Sweden.
Endorsed by the Swedish Government, the project is a joint initiative between Volvo Car Group, the Swedish Transport Administration, the Swedish Transport Agency, Lindholmen Science Park and the City of Gothenburg.
As a part of this project, 100 self-driving Volvo cars will use public roads in everyday driving conditions around the Swedish city of Gothenburg. The aim is to pinpoint the societal benefits of autonomous driving.
The program will involve self-driving cars using approximately 50km of selected roads in and around Gothenburg. These roads are typical commuter arteries and include motorway conditions and frequent queues.
Focus areas of this project include how autonomous vehicles bring societal and economic benefits by improving traffic efficiency, the traffic environment and road safety; infrastructure requirements for autonomous driving; typical traffic situations suitable for autonomous vehicles; customers' confidence in autonomous vehicles; and how surrounding drivers interact smoothly with a self-driving car.
The project will commence in 2014 with customer research and technology development, and the development of a user interface and cloud functionality. The first cars are expected to be on the roads in Gothenburg by 2017.
The 100 Volvo cars driven by customers will be new models developed on the company's upcoming scalable product architecture (SPA), with the all-new Volvo XC90 being the first model to be introduced in 2014. The project also includes fully automated parking, without a driver in the car.
