Volvo’s self-driving car, said to arrive in approximately five-years time, will feature a $10,000 optional autopilot system that will allow occupants to disengage completely from driving.
Company CEO Hakan Samuelsson spoke to reporters last week during the Global Mobility Leadership Forum near Detroit, where he also confirmed that future Volvos will still come with steering wheels for when the owner chooses to drive the car himself.
“To make a car even more premium, one of the most interesting things is a full autopilot,” stated Samuelsson. “Not a supervised version, but really the one that you can sit back and watch a movie or whatever. That will make the premium car even more premium.”
Volvo is also providing “robot taxis” for Uber, with testing just getting started in Pittsburgh – which indicates that the Swedish automaker is interested in both sides of the autonomous-vehicle business, as reported by Autonews.
“If you’re only providing transportation from A to B, you’re heading into trouble,” added Samuelsson. “You still need to have a car that is not just fulfilling the transportation need, but also giving our customers an emotional value, a premium car.”
What do you think of Volvo potentially charging an extra $10,000 for a fully autonomous system?
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