Volvo's 360c autonomous concept car is for sleeping, working, and hanging out
Volvo has hinted for a few weeks at what its 360c concept car might include, such as autonomous communication tools using colorful exterior lights, in-car coffee making, and a quiet ride (read: electric).
But what Volvo revealed on Wednesday morning at an unveiling event in Sweden opens up many possibilities for the Swedish company as it moves to position itself as a car brand for the future.
First of all, the 360c is indeed a fully autonomous, electric vehicle, just not the usual buy-on-site-and-drive-off-the-dealership type of car. Volvo sees the 360c as something businesses buy in groups and offer to their employees or clients as perks: automated, door-to-door travel with a plethora of amenities. It won't even have a steering wheel, because Volvo is designing this car to meet the highest level of autonomy, Level 5: completely computer-controlled in all environments and situations.
To accomplish these goals, Volvo has introduced a new "language" of exterior lights to communicate with others on the road through sounds, colors, and other visual elements, which is a similar idea to the somewhat creepy "eyes" that Jaguar has tested on driverless shuttles in the UK.
And the 360c isn't Volvo's first self-driving concept. The Concept 26, while made with autonomous technology, still has a driving option, and the 360c will always be a driverless experience.
The 360c also represents Volvo's hypothesis of how we might rely on autonomous vehicles in the years to come (besides getting from point A to B): sleeping, working, relaxing, partying, traveling, commuting -- all of these can be improved by a driverless shuttle system, according to Volvo's view of the future. The mysterious coffee video Volvo posted on its Facebook page shows how the car can become a new space altogether -- whether it's for powering up a laptop or relaxing after a stressful meeting with a fresh cup of coffee.t
With the 360c, Volvo wants compete with the air travel industry, especially when it comes to short-haul flights. Instead of flying from, say, Los Angeles to San Diego, with its intrinsic hassle-filled airport experience, Volvo instead wants to turn that 125-mile road trip into a battery-powered productive and restful excursion.
The new vehicles also open up the question of more suburban sprawl: If commutes become productive work stations-slash-zen dens, will people opt to live farther way from city centers?
While this is admittedly not much more than a conversation starter, it shows that Volvo seems certain that autonomous vehicles will be a key component in our future societies -- and it clearly wants to lead the charge.
Topics Electric Vehicles
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
