MOTORING NEWS - With its latest self-driving car concept, Volvo wants to take on the airline industry without any need for a steering wheel. Volvo opened up the interior of its 360c concept to accommodate a coffee table, card table, desk and even a first-class airline-style bed.
The company says the self-driving capability and Ikea-like interior furnishings could allow the 360c to replace short airline trips, where travellers spend more time driving back and forth to the airport and waiting in security or baggage lines than actually flying.
Volvo says that several popular trips fall into this category of travelling fewer than 320km, for example New York to Washington DC, Houston to Dallas, or Los Angeles to San Diego.
Volvo has taken the car-as-cabin idea to its utmost with the 360c concept. The Swedes have always excelled at interior furnishings and an automotive cabin is perfect for Ikea-like functionality in a small space.
Passengers can sit opposite each other around a table off to the side, in the four corners of the cabin, around a smaller table, or across the back of the car to minimise motion sickness and enjoy the view.
In Volvo's typical focus on safety, the company has designed a special airbag safety blanket to protect sleeping passengers in the event of a crash. This would presumably be caused by another car, since self-driving cars are supposed to eliminate crashes.
With its latest self-driving car concept, Volvo wants to take on the airline industry without any need for a steering wheel.
360c concept to accommodate a coffee table, card table, desk and even a first-class airline-style bed.
Volvo acknowledges that it doesn't know what the self-driving future will bring, but it sees the 360c concept as a conversation starter about how autonomous cars should reshape travel, city planning, the environment and even social interaction.
"When the Wright brothers took to the skies in 1903, they did not have a clue what modern air travel would look like," said Mårten Levenstam, Volvo's senior vice president of corporate strategy, in a statement.
"We do not know what the future of autonomous drive will hold, but it will have a profound impact on how people travel, how we design our cities and how we use infrastructure."
Volvo acknowledges that it doesn't know what the self-driving future will bring.
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