Drive Me cars now handed over to customers
The first two families, the Hains and the Simonovskis, have now received their Drive Me cars. The families will test its cars on the public roads of Gothenburg and support the research project with driving data and information about their everyday use and interaction with the cars.
Drive Me is one of the world’s first full-scale pilot projects with autonomous cars, real customers and test on public roads. The project will involve real customers testing the different stages of driver assisted and eventually fully autonomous technology. More families will follow the project during next year up to 100 people will be involved in Drive Me.
Academic perspective is important
SAFER is represented in the Drive Me project management and as the academic partner in Drive M. This will strengthen the project’s scientific dimension, which include independent research and programmes for educating new experts.
“The academic perspective will be crucial to our efforts to integrate self-driving cars into real-life traffic and to position Sweden as a leader in the development of future mobility”, Volvo Cars CEO Håkan Samuelsson says.
Joining forces needed
Recognising that growing urbanisation continues to put pressure on transport systems in and around urban areas all over the world, ‘Drive Me’ addresses the need to join forces in the quest to develop a sustainable society and mobility. The public pilot will provide a valuable insight into the societal benefits of making autonomous vehicles a natural part of the traffic environment. Smart vehicles are part of the solution, but a broad societal approach is likely also necessary to offer sustainable personal mobility in the future.
The ground-breaking project ‘Drive Me – Self-driving cars for sustainable mobility’ is a joint initiative between Volvo Car Group, Autoliv, the Swedish Transport Administration, the Swedish Transport Agency, Lindholmen Science Park, Chalmers and the City of Gothenburg.
