XC90DriveMe
Mike Sinclair1 Jul 2016
NEWS

Volvo accepts autonomous fault

Volvo will take legal liability away from drivers when its autonomous cars hit the road

Volvo will take full responsibility and liability for the safety and operation of its future generations of autonomous cars.

The move means the company will effectively absolve drivers of any fault when their Volvo is operating in autonomous mode.

“There can be no grey zone whatsoever [regarding] who is responsible,” Volvo’s Cluster 90 Vehicle Line Senior Director, Anne-Catherine Thore Olsson told motoring.com.au during an autonomous car workshop in Volvo’s home town, Goteborg, yesterday (June 30).

“This is the way we have chosen to work and to set our targets,” she stated.

The decision means that Volvo will not put its autonomous cars into showrooms until it is 100 per cent certain of the vehicles’ ability to operate safely across the myriad traffic conditions the globe presents.

“We would not accept anything less than a system that is good enough for us to take full responsibility,” Thore Olsson commented.

“And that should be an advantage for the customer... That they know the car manufacturer takes the full responsibility, instead of offering something [technology] that they don’t take [legal responsibility],” she said.

Autonomous driving (AD) is one of the key development foci of the Swedish marque and the company expects to have systems production-ready by 2020. To this end, trials of Volvo AD-equipped PHEV XC90s will begin in Goteborg, London and parts of China next year.

The proof of concept trial in Sweden will involve around 100 real world customers over two years. The UK and Chinese programs will function as verification projects for the car-maker’s hometown findings.

Initially, drivers will be required to “supervise” the XCs’ operations, but within the period of the trial, full “unsupervised” operation (ie: where a driver can read a book or work on a laptop, for example) will take place.

Volvo is not pursuing driverless cars per se. Its systems will require drivers to be able to take control of the cars if conditions are not AD-suitable. An example could be extreme weather conditions which hamper radar or camera operation.

Should the driver be incapacitated or otherwise unable to takeover control, the car would drive itself to safety and park. This flies in the face of its Concept 26 displayed last year that suggested a driver could sleep during AD.

Even with a driver in the car, Thore Olsson concedes legislation may keep AD out of the mainstream longer than technical hurdles.

“We know what to do with technology. Legislation is out of our control. We work to influence [legislators]. We work to have a joint discussion to [the point] where the legislation is able to be updated.

“We know what is enough data in terms of verification. But it can differ, because we have to change legislation in each country [to allow AD]. There could be different requirements in different countries

“It takes a lot to convince [governments] and change legislation,” she said.

Volvo’s AD development is well advanced. It focuses currently on highway and freeway conditions but the dream is for the systems to cope with the full spectrum of car use.

Thore Olsson says the company will be in a position in terms of technology to “fully take the driver out of the loop” in freeway style travel by 2019. A production-ready version of the sensor suite and hardware could be in cars soon after.

But she was at pains to point out there is no ‘hard’ implementation date.

“It’s all about trust and we have a safety heritage that we will never ever jeopardise and that is why we are doing this gradually.

“It’s an evolution and that is why we have not set a firm date. Because we will do that when we know it is safe.

“Once we release it in full it will be okay for any part of the world. Okay for any traffic conditions,” she promised.

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