Volvo to launch UK autonomous driving trial

Swedish car maker Volvo Cars is to begin an ambitious autonomous driving trial next year to speed up the introduction of a technology that promises to massively reduce car accidents as well as free up congested roads and save drivers valuable time. The company is pioneering the development of autonomous driving systems globally as part of its commitment that no one will be seriously injured or killed in a new Volvo by the year 2020. The test will be called Drive Me London and will differentiate itself from
April 28, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

Swedish car maker 7192 Volvo Cars is to begin an ambitious autonomous driving trial next year to speed up the introduction of a technology that promises to massively reduce car accidents as well as free up congested roads and save drivers valuable time.

The company is pioneering the development of autonomous driving systems globally as part of its commitment that no one will be seriously injured or killed in a new 609 Volvo by the year 2020.

The test will be called Drive Me London and will differentiate itself from other autonomous driving programmes by using real families driving autonomous cars on public roads.
 
Volvo will source its data from these everyday users and use this data to develop autonomous cars that are suitable for real world driving conditions, rather than the more unrealistic conditions found on test tracks. Thatcham Research will be providing the technical data analysis and any professional test drivers needed as part of the trial.

Drive Me London will begin in early 2017 with a limited number of semi-autonomous driving cars and expand in 2018 to include up to 100 autonomous cars and is expected to be the largest and most extensive autonomous driving testing programme on Britain’s streets.

“Autonomous driving represents a leap forward in car safety,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive. “The sooner autonomous cars are on the roads, the sooner lives will start being saved.”
 

“Vehicle manufacturers are predicting that highly autonomous vehicles, capable of allowing the driver to drop ‘out of the loop’ for certain sections of their journey, will be available from around 2021,” said Peter Shaw, chief executive at Thatcham Research.
 
“There are multiple benefits to AD cars,” said Mr Samuelsson. “That is why governments globally need to put in place the legislation and infrastructure to allow autonomous cars onto the streets as soon as possible. The car industry cannot do it all by itself. We need governmental help.”

Location Based Systems

Related Content

  • February 27, 2013
    The move towards shared telematics platforms
    Is the end for dedicated, in-vehicle telematics systems now in sight? Some seemed to think so at the recent Telematics Munich 2012 conference… Geoff Hadwick reports. Forget smartphone apps – leave that sort of thing to Apple and Google,” Roger Lanctot, associate director of the global automotive practice at consultancy Strategy Analytics told more than 700 delegates in Munich last month at the Telematics Munich 2012 conference. They are a waste of time and money, he said. Forget putting too much data on das
    Read More
  • May 8, 2015
    Data holds the key to combating VRU casualties
    Accident analysis software can help authorities identify common causes and make best use of their budgets, as Will Baron explains. More than 1.2 million people die on the world’s roads each year and according to the World Health Organisation, half of these are pedestrians and vulnerable road users (those whose vehicle does not have a protective shell, such as motorcyclists and cyclists). While much has been done to improve road safety and cut the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads, a great d
    Read More
  • June 21, 2013
    Volvo demonstrates its ingenious self-parking car
    Volvo Car Group has developed what it claims is an ingenious concept for autonomous parking. The concept car finds and parks in a vacant space by itself, without the driver inside. The smart, driverless car also interacts safely and smoothly with other cars and pedestrians in the car park. Vehicle 2 Infrastructure technology informs the driver when the service is available. The driver uses a mobile phone application to activate the autonomous parking system and then leaves the car. The vehicle uses sensors
    Read More
  • February 18, 2013
    Oxford University develops self-driving car
    Oxford University scientists have developed a self-driving car system that can be installed in existing cars and can cope with snow, rain and other weather conditions. Developed by a team led by Professor Paul Newman at Oxford University, the new system has been installed in a Nissan Leaf electric car and tested on private roads around the university. The car will halt for pedestrians, and could take over the tedious parts of driving such as negotiating traffic jams or regular commutes. The car alerts the
    Read More

Highlighted Content