Volvo aiming to sell self-driving technology cars by 2021
Swedish carmaker matches BMW's bid to have vehicles with technology on the road in 5 years
- No collaborators are known for the project as of yet, but the company are looking at various partnerships
Updated : 11:12
Volvo Car Group is joining the race to advent self-driving technology in cars, as it targets 2021 as the year it will be able to sell a model with such a device.
The news follows BMW's claim that they will have a similar car on the road within five years, with the help of technology groups Intel and Mobileye.
The Swedish car group will test vehicles in Gothenburg, London and China, putting 100 test cars on the streets, in a stepping stone towards cars controlled without any human intervention.
Following BMW's partnership with the technology companies, Volvo is yet to come to a similar agreement and is looking into the prospect of its software and cloud capabailities. They have looked at "“various partnerships" according to CEO Hakan Samuelsson.
“It’s our ambition to have a car that can drive fully autonomously on the highway by 2021,” Samuelsson said in an interview. “This technology is something as a carmaker you cannot develop by yourself.”
Volvo cars have an international reputation for safety, and paramount to any deal or test would be a provision to avoid any incident similar to that of Tesla's autopilot in the United States, which has been investigated after the death of a driver in one of its cars.
Putting hands-free driving on highways within five years will also require laws and regulations to keep up with technological advances, Samuelsson said.