As it was already announced Volvo plans to be the first mainstream automaker to test automated vehicles on public roads in 2017, and now the company wants to evaluate consumers' opinions on autonomous cars.
The company already placed a 10-question survey on the quickly emerging technology on its new U.S.-based survey website, www.FutureofDriving.com, and it intends to put 100 real consumers in autonomous cars while testing them in a year.
The test, which will place 100 automated Volvo XC90s in customers’ hands, is limited to about 50 kilometers (31 miles) of mapped roads, in Sweden. During the test, Volvo will not demand that its test subjects pay attention to the road and remain in control while the automated system is engaged. The XC90s are otherwise conventional vehicles much like the crossovers on sale now.
Volvo says the XC90 drivers may read, check emails or do any of a number of things for which autonomy serves as a replacement driver while on the 50-kilometer stretch, and it has committed to accepting legal responsibility for any accidents caused by the automated system when it is engaged. Volvo is considered among the leading major automakers – if it’s not the leader – in such technology, along with Mercedes-Benz, General Motors’ Cadillac division, Nissan and Honda.
