Tesla is busy making the loudest noises in the autonomous driving world, while notching up a toasty body count with their cars killing drivers via Autopilot and otherwise continuing to burst into flames at the drop of a battery. Other automakers are going about a move toward self-driving vehicles with a bit more subtly and style.
Volvo’s ventures into vehicles that want to drive themselves took another step up with the arrival of the 2017 S90 Sedan. The automaker describes the Volvo Pilot Assist system as helping “the driver to drive the car between the road lane whilst at the same time maintaining a preselected time interval to the preceding vehicle.”
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In human terms not composed by some autonomous writing system, Pilot Assist reads the lane markers and keeps the vehicle stable in that lane at speed. Meanwhile, forward sensors keep tabs on traffic ahead and regulate speed and braking to avoid collisions.
Unlike similar technology from Mercedes-Benz and other luxury automakers that provides the same service at higher motorway speeds, Volvo Pilot Assist is intended for street use and caps the function around 30 mph. In a very un-Tesla-like move, Volvo aggressively warns the user that the system is not intended as full-on autonomous driving. The human behind the wheel is supposed to be ready at all times to take control if Pilot Assist doesn’t detect an approaching vehicle off the bow.
After trying Pilot Assist out during an S90 driving event in The Hamptons, this scribbler can report the system works as advertised. Like its rival car builders, Volvo sees the writing on the wall just as Pilot Assist sees the paint on the lanes. Drivers are becoming lazier, more distracted and less skilled — and systems like Pilot Assist might have to step in to save lives. It’s mission accomplished in Sweden.
Personally, I wonder what the point of such technology is beyond allowing drivers the ability to perform functions behind the wheel of a car that they should leave at home or in the office. As a driver, if you can’t be bothered to control your own car at 30 mph on city streets, take a damn bus.
