[msb-alumni] Self-driving vehicles to hit road in Sweden

From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2015 13:28:13 -0500
BlankSelf-driving vehicles to hit road in Sweden Customers to test cars for 
Volvo in 2017 pilot By David Undercoffler Los Angeles Times Volvo made its 
self-driving ambitions clear Thursday with the announcement of a pilot 
program that will put 100 autonomous cars on Swedish roads by 2017. The 
program is unique in that it hands the keys to customers rather than company 
engineers. The test subjects will be able to operate the cars autonomously 
on select roads around Volvo's hometown of Gothenburg. "We are entering 
uncharted territory in the field of autonomous driving," said Peter Mertens, 
senior vice president of research and development. "Taking the exciting step 
to a public pilot, with the ambition to enable ordinary people to sit behind 
the wheel in normal traffic on public roads, has never been done before. 
Volvo touts the program as a unique collaboration with the Swedish 
government, the city of Gothenburg and the Lindholmen Science Park. Roughly 
30 miles of highways in the city have been approved for the cars, which will 
be allowed to operate only in conditions when no oncoming traffic, 
pedestrians or cyclists are present. A variety of drivers who use the 
preapproved route regularly will be chosen for the pilot program. Volvo will 
equip 100 of its new XC90 crossovers with a laundry list of sensors, radars, 
cameras and lasers that will give the vehicle a 360-degree view of what's 
happening on the road. These systems will gather data about the roads and 
conditions around them in real time and will use GPS to compare the 
vehicle's surroundings to an existing 3-D map. Once the cars reach the end 
of the approved autonomous zone, they will prompt the driver to resume 
control. If the driver cannot, the car will find a safe place to stop. 
Fail-safe measures include a secondary and completely independent braking 
system. The automaker wanted to develop a real-world program to gather data 
on how self-driving cars operate on public roads, and what effect they could 
have on fuel consumption, safety, traffic and urban planning. It's another 
step toward Volvo's stated goal that no humans would be killed or seriously 
injured in a new Volvo by 2020. .
[msb-alumni] Self-driving vehicles to hit road in Sweden

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