Another day, another major auto manufacturer announcing plans for a self-driving vehicle: this time it’s Volvo, which says it will offer a fully autonomous car to luxury buyers in five years.
The vehicle will be sold to individual buyers, who can fork over about $10,000 extra to purchase autopilot features, Bloomberg Technology reports.
The feature will allow occupants to completely disengage from driving but there will still be a steering wheel for when the owner feels like using it, according to Chief Executive Officer Hakan Samuelsson, speaking to reporters at the Global Mobility Leadership Forum near Detroit on Thursday.
“To make a car even more premium, one of the most interesting things is a full autopilot,” he said. “Not a supervised version, but really the one that you can sit back and watch a movie or whatever. That will make the premium car even more premium.”
He says Volvo’s autopilot features will be different from others like Tesla, because those require drivers to keep their hands on the wheel in case they need to take control.
Uber is currently using Volvo self-driving vehicles in a test in Pittsburgh that lets customers order a driverless car, but Uber engineers are also present to grab the wheel when needed and make notes about the trip.
Volvo Plans to Offer Fully Self-Driving Car to Luxury Buyers [Bloomberg Technology]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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