Swedish car makers Volvo believe that the daily office run is taking all the fun out of driving, and they might just be onto something. After all, who enjoys the whole bumper-to-bumper, traffic-infused run where you move at a snail-like crawl? This commute, pegged at a 26 minute average by Volvo’s estimates could do with some sprucing up, they say, and they’ve gone and done just that.
The Concept 26 is based on Volvo’s autonomous drive platform, and allows the driver to get more comfortable as the car does all the work during that annoying work commute. The driver’s position can be switched to one of three modes, Drive, Create, or Relax. When the driver decides to forgo driving responsibilities, the steering wheel drops back in towards the dash, seat reclines, and the massive infotainment display pops out of the dash, allowing him to occupy himself in more leisurely pursuits during what is one the most exasperating of life’s daily, four-wheeled jaunts.
Sounds fun, but is this tech a really viable innovation, one that can make it to future cars? Dr Peter Mertens, Senior VP of R&D, Volvo Car Group explains, “We have gone to great lengths to understand the challenges and opportunities that autonomous cars will bring to people in coming years, and our flexible approach to engineering and design, enabled by our new Scalable Product Architecture, means that we can readily bring this from concept to reality.”
So it looks like Volvo, who’ve also patented this design are serious about making it a reality, but can you really rely on autonomous drive? Well, Dr Mertens addressed that too, “Volvo Cars is among the first to address the subject of self-driving cars and liability. We firmly believe that car makers should take full responsibility for the actions of the car when it is driving in full autonomous mode. If a manufacturer does not accept liability it clearly implies that they are not confident about their autonomous drive technology.”
In a world where luxury has become one of the by-words of the auto-industry, the Concept 26 might just prove to be a game changer. Let’s wait and watch how it all pans out.
