Volvo reveals self-driving car safety caveat

Volvo has revealed future details of its self-driving technology under an existing collaboration with ridesharing giant, Uber.

However, to some, the revelations might produce more questions than they do answers.

Volvo and Uber have held a joint engineering agreement since 2016, developing prototypes based on Volvo’s existing models integrated into Uber ridesharing trials.

Today, the pair showed off a new XC90 production SUV that is “capable of fully driving itself”.

Uber has plans for the vehicle to “one day” carry out ridesharing duties without the need for a human at the wheel.

“The XC90 base vehicle is equipped with key safety features that allow Uber to easily install its own self-driving system, enabling the possible future deployment of self-driving cars in Uber’s network as an autonomous ridesharing service,” a press release said.

“The most important features of Volvo Cars’ autonomous drive-ready production vehicle include several back-up systems for both steering and braking functions as well as battery back-up power. If any of the primary systems should fail for some reason, the back-up systems are designed to immediately act to bring the car to a stop.

“In addition to Volvo’s built-in back-up systems, an array of sensors atop and built into the vehicle are designed for Uber’s self-driving system to safely operate and manoeuvre in an urban environment.”

Volvo staunchly believes the autonomous technology will help improve safety and expects that by 2025, one-third of the cars it sells will be fully autonomous.

However, in a statement, the car-maker pointed out the safety benefits pf next-generation models will only be fully realised when all cars on the road are autonomous.

“Volvo Cars believes autonomous drive can generate significant potential road safety benefits for society as a whole when all cars are autonomous,” the release said. “Until that moment, the technology can offer customers a better driving experience by taking away mundane tasks such as stop-start driving in traffic jams.”

Volvo said autonomous prototype shown today will be similar in concept to its own generation of self-driving vehicles, to be released “in the early 2020s”.

“These technologies, to be introduced on the next generation of Volvo models based on the SPA2 vehicle architecture, will include features designed to enable unsupervised autonomous drive in clearly designated areas such as highways and ring roads,” the car-maker said.

Today’s reveal also brings into question Volvo’s promise to completely eliminate road injuries or deaths in its cars by 2020. The pledge has been a cornerstone of Volvo’s road safety message since at least 2010.