Volvo Wants to Bring A Fleet of Autonomous Vehicles to the U.S.

Volvo is getting ready to launch a fleet of self-driving vehicles in Gothenburg, Sweden that will be driven by ordinary people next year. The Swedish automaker would like to do the same program in the U.S.

Speaking with Automotive News (Subscription Required), Lex Kerssemakers, CEO of Volvo Cars of North America said the company would like to do a similar program to the one in Sweden. But it will be some time before this happens.

"Our ambition is to have a similar project also in the United States When? I do not know. It is very premature. It is in the very early stages," said Kerssemakers.

The program called Drive Me will put ordinary people into 100 self-driving Volvo XC90 crossovers on a controlled 31 Mile route in Gothenburg. The XC90s will be used for daily commuting on roads with a barrier between the various lanes and operate "in real traffic in a real situation." Volvo plans on running this program from next year to the spring of 2019.

Last week, Volvo announced plans to do a similar program in China. The plan would have local drivers testing self-driving vehicles on public roads in limited driving situations such as highways. No timetable for this program was announced.