A fleet of 100 self-driving Volvo XC90s will hit the roads in Sweden in 2017, and now, we have a sense of just how its Sensus self-driving interface will operate.
Let me preface this by saying I've ridden in self-driving cars before, and I still find Volvo's Auto Pilot demo (watch above) pretty fascinating. The first step to activating Auto Pilot is to program the end destination in the navigation system, so the car knows exactly where it will go — and where the driver can take over.
As soon as the car recognizes it's on the freeway portion of the programmed route, it offers to take over from the driver — much like how the Mercedes-Benz Actros semi-truck uses Highway Pilot. With a click of the paddle shifters mounted behind the steering wheel, the driver indicates he or she is ready for Auto Pilot to take over.
Once Auto Pilot is activated, the system counts down how long the driver can remain at rest behind the wheel. It knows, based on the navigation information, how far the vehicle will travel before it leaves the freeway.
While Auto Pilot is engaged, the Volvo monitors a 360-degree view of the road around it and reacts accordingly to other cars or obstacles. If it encounters a scenario in which you need to regain command of the car, it will alert you; if you don't retake control, it will bring itself to a safe but swift stop in the lane.
Perhaps the best part of the video is that functions normally locked while the vehicle in motion — like video playback — are enabled while Auto Pilot is in control. This means you could respond to texts or scroll through Twitter while the commuters sitting in traffic around you are tearing their hair out.
Despite what the Volvo video shows, when self-driving cars become available to the public, drivers will likely have to keep their eyes on the road, rather than on their phones or the car's in-dash screen.
The demo makes it clear that self-driving cars aren't as scary and foreign as some might imagine, but rather extensions of cruise control.
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