Volvo's vision without the... steering wheel

Imagine a world in which you walk out the door of your house, get in the car and drive off on that long trip you have planned without any stress. Along the way, where the car will drive itself, you can eat, work or surf the Internet, sitting comfortably in your armchair, or lie down and sleep. And all this, without the hassle of getting to and from the airport, security checks, endless hours of waiting, crowded queues and noisy, cramped airplane cabins. 

Electric and autonomous, with 4 uses: Sleeping cabin, mobile office, seating and entertainment area, this concept is a vision of what travel can be like in the future. And, potentially, it could be an unexpected competitor to air travel, as it is more attractive than the plane for domestic travel. 

This is exactly the vision for the future of autonomous travel that Volvo Cars is revealing today with the Volvo 360c concept, a future that is autonomous, electric, connected and safe. 

The basis for the 360c is a fully autonomous, fully electric car that is not driven by a human. The prototype makes the most of the design freedom created by the absence of a steering wheel and internal combustion engine, which allows for new ideas for passenger seating arrangements in rows of two or three. 360c presents four possible uses of autonomous vehicles - a sleeping environment, mobile office, living room and entertainment area - which together represent new ideas for the way people travel.

"In the years ahead, business will change and Volvo has a leading role to play in the changes that will take place in our industry," says Håkan Samuelsson, President and CEO of Volvo Cars. "Autonomous driving will allow us to take the next big step in safety, but it also opens up exciting new business models and allows consumers to spend time in the car doing exactly what they want to do."

The 360c can be a lucrative competitor in short-haul flights, a sector valued in the billions of dollars. In particular, shorter journeys, where the distance between origin and destination is around 300 km, is a field that is a candidate for revolutionary changes thanks to this alternative mode of travel.

For example, on several flights within the United States where there is congestion, such as the New York - Washington DC route, it is estimated that travelling by plane is more time-consuming than travelling by car, when factors such as the journey to the airport, security checks and waiting times are taken into account. An autonomous vehicle that picks up the passenger from home for a door-to-door journey would be an attractive option compared to other modes of public transport such as bus and train.

360c also opens up a discussion about the great opportunities that autonomous driving technology creates for road safety, leading to significant improvements similar to Volvo's invention of the three-point seat belt in 1959.

With 360c, Volvo is proposing a new global standard for how autonomous vehicles can safely communicate with other road users. As autonomous technology is gradually implemented, fully autonomous driverless vehicles will drive in a mixed environment, sharing the road with users of conventional vehicles. In these traffic conditions, where there will be no eye contact between drivers to indicate their intentions to each other, how vehicles communicate with each other is very important.

In developing the 360c, Volvo's safety engineers met this challenge by equipping the prototype with a system that includes external sounds, colours, visual aids and a combination of all of the above to help the car communicate its intentions to other road users. Volvo believes that this method should become a standard for all autonomous vehicle manufacturers so that all road users can easily communicate with autonomous vehicles.

In addition, Volvo Cars experts looked at how different passenger seats can affect safety. When the 360c acts as a sleeping environment, a special safety blanket plays the role of a future restraint system that works like a three-point seat belt, except that it adapts to people travelling lying down.

360c is a first, fully conscious step towards a broader discussion about the potential of autonomous driving technology to radically change society in many ways.

"Autonomous vehicle prototypes tend to demonstrate technology, rather than express a vision of how people can use them," said Robin Page, Senior Vice President of Design at Volvo Cars. "But Volvo is a people-centric company. We focus on our customers' daily lives and how much we can improve them. 360c is the next step in this approach."

Autonomous driving makes possible many scenarios that improve the future of transport and people's lives, transforming unproductive or boring commuting time into useful and enjoyable minutes or hours on the road. An autonomous vehicle that has the potential to function as an office environment can be offered on a subscription basis or provided by the employer to employees.

Fully autonomous and electric mobility also offers environmental benefits, such as less pollution and reduced congestion, but also better health and improved lifestyles for those living in cities. It creates new possibilities in housing choice, which can decompress property prices and make home ownership more affordable. Increased productive time during travel will make people less dependent on the proximity of their home to their place of work.