Remember the films Demolition Man or i,Robot where cars of the future could drive on their own? Well, Volvo is bringing science fiction a notch closer to reality. Volvo Cars aims to play a leading role in the world’s first large-scale autonomous driving pilot project - where 100 self-driving Volvo cars will use public roads in everyday driving conditions around the city of Gothenburg, Sweden.

The ‘Drive Me – Self-driving cars for sustainable mobility’ project is a joint initiative between Volvo, the Swedish Transport Administration, the Swedish Transport Agency, Lindholmen Science Park and the City of Gothenburg - endorsed by the Swedish Government. The pilot will involve self-driving cars using approximately 50km of selected roads in and around Gothenburg.

More than cars, the project will focus on areas such as societal and economic benefits of autonomous vehicles, infrastructure requirements and customers’ confidence, among others. Volvo believes self-driving vehicles can also enrich city life in other ways, such as by lowered emissions which benefits air quality and traffic safety.

The project will commence in 2014 with the first cars expected to be on the roads by 2017.

The cars driven by customers will be new models including the all new Volvo XC90, which will be introduced in 2014.

The project also includes fully automated parking - a concept which allows the driver to walk away from the car at the parking entrance while the vehicle finds a vacant spot and parks by itself.

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