A major step towards making autonomous vehicles a reality on our roads will be taken in London early next year when premium car maker Volvo begins an ambitious autonomous driving trial. Called ‘Drive Me London’ the test will differentiate itself from other autonomous driving programmes by using real families driving AD cars on public roads.

Volvo will source its data from these everyday users and use this to develop AD cars that are suitable for real world driving conditions, rather than the more unrealistic conditions found on test tracks. The trail will also be supported by Thatcham Research who will provide the technical data analysis. It will start with a limited number of semi-autonomous driving cars and expand in 2018 to include up to 100 AD cars.

Volvo is of course a name synonymous with automotive safety and it has a vision that that no one will be seriously injured or killed in a new Volvo by the year 2020. The company sees AD technology as a means of massively reducing accidents as well as freeing up congested roads.

Håkan Samuelsson, Volvo President and Chief Executive says, "Autonomous driving represents a leap forward in car safety. The sooner AD cars are on the roads, the sooner lives will start being saved.”

Peter Shaw, chief executive at Thatcham Research commented, "Vehicle manufacturers are predicting that highly autonomous vehicles, capable of allowing the driver to drop ‘out of the loop’ for certain sections of their journey, will be available from around 2021. Without doubt, crash frequency will also dramatically reduce. We’ve already seen this with the adoption of Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) on many new cars. Research in the US by NHTSA predicts that by 2035, as a result of autonomous and connected cars, crashes will be reduced by 80%. Additionally, if a crash unfortunately can’t be avoided, then the impact speed will also drop as a result of the system’s performance, reducing the severity of the crash.”

Volvo sees a vision in the relatively near future where AD technology will mean faster, cleaner and safer journeys. It also predicts that the reduction in accidents will have a major impact on the insurance sector with the potential to wipe billions of insurance premium costs globally. Håkan Samuelsson says, "The medium to long term impact on the insurance industry is likely to be significant. But let’s not forget the real reason for this, fewer accidents, fewer injuries, fewer fatalities.”