Volvo Cars' Concept 26 allows owners to delegate driving to the car

Volvo Cars has developed Concept 26, based around an all-new patented seat design that actively cradles the driver during the transformation phase into one of the three modes: Drive, Create or Relax. With the three modes, the concept creates a new autonomous drive innovation platform that can adapt to new needs and technologies over time.

Volvo’s ongoing research into autonomous driving has showed that an average person’s daily commute takes the joy out of driving. It is during the commute and on long motorway trips that people are most willing to delegate the act of driving to their car.

Concept 26 is developed keeping the result of the research in mind, with the name of the concept reflecting the average daily commute to work of 26 minutes – time that could be spent doing something more meaningful than sitting in stop-start traffic. The carmaker has set out to the driver to enjoy the driving experience or to delegate driving to the car as and when required.

Commenting on the concept, Robin Page, VP of interior design at Volvo Cars said, “It’s all about people. Our research clearly shows that some people will want to use their commuting time creatively when they have full autonomous drive available, while others will want to just sit back and relax, watch online media or listen to music. Autonomous drive will make all of this possible. This is what Concept 26 has captured by reimagining the entire car experience.”

When the driver wishes to delegate driving to the car, the steering wheel retracts, the seat reclines and a large display emerges from the dashboard allowing the driver to enjoy the time spent in the car as they like. The concept changes the basic design of car interiors and provides a space that can be used as the driver/passenger wishes.

“We have gone to great lengths to understand the challenges and opportunities that autonomous cars will bring to people in coming years, and our flexible approach to engineering and design, enabled by our new Scalable Product Architecture, means that we can readily bring this from concept to reality,” said Dr Peter Mertens, Senior VP of R&D at Volvo Car Group.

“Volvo Cars is among the first to address the subject of self-driving cars and liability. We firmly believe that car makers should take full responsibility for the actions of the car when it is driving in full autonomous mode. If a manufacturer does not accept liability, it clearly implies that they are not confident about their autonomous drive technology,” summed up Dr Mertens.

Also read: Volvo Cars and Microsoft to jointly develop next-gen auto technologies