Volvo is about to start what it describes as the most advanced autonomous driving experiment ever conducted in China.
Volvo aims to put as many as 100 specially equipped cars on China's road network and test them in real-world driving conditions and with real-world drivers behind the wheel.
Detailing the experiment at the "Autonomous driving -- could China take the lead?" conference in Beijing on Thursday, company president and chief executive Håkan Samuelsson said: "Autonomous driving can make a significant contribution to road safety. The sooner AD cars are on the roads, the sooner lives will start being saved."
A Swedish brand looking to China to develop self-driving car technology may seem a strange fit at first, but Volvo's owner, Geely is one of the country's biggest carmakers and China is the world's largest single market for new vehicles.
Volvo is already deeply committed to improving road safety in China. In 2012, the company partnered with the Chinese government to establish a dedicated traffic safety research center to help manage the impact that the millions of cars flooding onto Chinese roads is having on the country in terms of accidents and congestion.
Human error is a factor in 90 per cent of car crashes, but as well as reducing accidents, autonomous, connected cars can cut congestion and pollution levels and Volvo has taken an early lead in the development and testing of self-driving vehicles.
It is conducting a similarly vast 100-car experiment in Gothenburg, Sweden concentrating on the next generation of autonomous technologies and as far as current generation technologies are concerned, its new flagship S90 sedan is the first car to go on sale in the US with a semi-autonomous highway pilot system as standard equipment.
However, regardless of how quickly technologies can be developed and tested in laboratory or simulated conditions, they can't be integrated into real-world cars until legislative issues are addressed, be it in China, the U.S. or across Europe.
"AD is not just about car technology. We need the right rules and the right laws," said Samuelsson. "That is why governments need to put in place the legislation to allow AD cars onto the streets as soon as possible. The car industry cannot do it all by itself. We need governmental help."
