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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. http://dai.ly/x17xmzy

The state of Nevada has approved Google's plan to test its prototype driverless Prius on the infamous Las Vegas Strip and so far, the results have been promising. We know how being in a driverless train feels like, but trains are relatively simple to operate compared to the chaos of driving on roads where imbeciles and drunk bafoons roam. Safer roads According to an article on BBC News, roads will become a safer place. More than 1.2 million people around the world die every year in road accidents and approximately 50 million are injured according to the World Health Organization. I guess having a computer to drive for you will eliminate the need to look at your phone, wondering whether your wife received your message saying you'll be home late and worrying that if she didn't she'd flip out. Having a microchip drive you also prevents you being distracted by the GPS read outs or (if you're a social network freak) Facebook. Whatever it is, the computer will do it for you and you can sit back and enjoy the ride. "Google's car adheres strictly to the speed limit and follows the rules of the road" says Tom Jacobs, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles. Who had the privilege of riding shotgun in the Google car. Cars won't speed, they won't crash into each other because they will be able to communicate with one another and sort all the lane changing and slowing down stuff that usually ends up with us humans cursing and swearing at another driver. People will be more productive Well, you won't have to steer or step on the accelerator, so you get to do work. Basically do what you do on a train or a bus and that'll be the same in a driverless car. Fewer traffic jams This was a surprise to me. But apparently the computers will be able to drive the car nearly bumper to bumper and I think that will freak me out more than anything but, yes, fewer traffic jams because cars will be able to regulate speed and distance between one another. But...VIPs still need humans to drive We all know that planes fly on autopilot once reaching cruising altitude, but imagine knowing that your plane is landing or taking off by itself. Most will not will not feel comfortable about that, so when it comes to people with either really deep wallets or immense political power, they'd stick to having a human at the wheel to prevent them from, well, dying.