Volvo Car Group to Introduce Self-driving Cars on Public Roads

Volvo Cars in a joint venture is coming up with the self driving cars, which can operate without driver for sustainable mobility.

The project known as 'Drive Me - Self-driving cars for sustainable mobility' is a joint initiative in which Volvo Cars would launch 100 self-driving Volvo cars on the public roads in everyday driving conditions around the Swedish city of Gothenburg.

The joint venture includes Swedish Transport Administration, the Swedish Transport Agency, Lindholmen Science Park and the City of Gothenburg.

The project Drive me will begin next year and the first cars are expected to hit the roads by 2017. Volvo XC90 is the first Volvo car that will be introduced in 2014.

The roads of the city which have typical commuter arteries and include motorway conditions and frequent queues would have self driving cars using 50 kilometers of selected roads in and around the city.

"Autonomous vehicles are an integrated part of Volvo Cars' as well as the Swedish government's vision of zero traffic fatalities. This public pilot represents an important step towards this goal," says Håkan Samuelsson, president and CEO of Volvo Car Group said in a statement.

"It will give us an insight into the technological challenges at the same time as we get valuable feedback from real customers driving on public roads," Samuelsson added.

The project also includes fully automated parking lots which do not require drivers.