Local drivers test autonomous Volvo on public roads in China
Volvo Cars plans to launch China’s most advanced autonomous driving experiment in which local drivers will test autonomously driving cars on public roads in everyday driving conditions. Volvo expects the experiment to involve up to 100 cars, and, in the coming months, will begin negotiations with interested cities in China to see which is most able to provide the necessary permissions, regulations, and infrastructure to allow the experiment to go ahead.
Volvo believes the introduction of AD technology promises to reduce car accidents as well as to free up congested roads, reduce pollution and allow drivers to use their time in their cars more valuably.
Pioneering
The Swedish company, whose name has been synonymous with automotive safety ever since it invented the seat belt in 1959, is pioneering the development of autonomous driving systems as part of its aim that no one should be seriously injured or killed in a new Volvo by the year 2020.
“Autonomous driving can make a significant contribution to road safety,” Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo told a seminar in Beijing on April 7, entitled ‘Autonomous driving – could China take the lead?’. “The sooner AD cars are on the roads, the sooner lives will start being saved.”
Regulations of autonomous driving
Mr Samuelsson welcomes the positive steps China has taken to put in place the development of autonomous driving technologies, but also encourages it to do more to try and speed up the implementation of the regulations that will oversee autonomously driving cars in the future.
“There are multiple benefits to AD cars,” said Mr Samuelsson. “That is why governments need to put in place legislation to allow AD cars onto the streets as soon as possible. The car industry cannot do it all by itself. We need governmental help.”
China
The introduction of AD cars promises to revolutionise China’s roads in four main areas – safety, congestion, pollution and time saving. Independent research has revealed that AD vehicles have the potential to reduce the number of car accidents significantly. Up to 90 per cent of all accidents are caused by human error, a factor which will be eradicated with AD cars.
In terms of congestion, AD cars allow traffic to move more smoothly, reducing traffic jams and by extension cutting dangerous emissions and the associated pollution. Lastly, reduced congestion saves drivers valuable time. Mr Samuelsson will welcome moves by regulators and car makers in the US and Europe to develop AD cars and infrastructures, but he will also encourage all the parties involved to work together more constructively to avoid patchwork global regulations, technological duplication and needless expense.
Work together
“AD is not just about car technology. We need the right rules and the right laws,” Mr Samuelsson says. “It is natural for us to work together. 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.”
