A few days ago, Volvo Cars announced at CES 2022 that it has partnered with autonomous driving sensor manufacturer Luminar Technologies Inc to launch a hands-free driving system called Tide Pilot, which will first be released in California, USA.
Ride Pilot is a supervision-free autonomous driving function, according to the introduction, when this function is enabled, the driver no longer needs to pay attention to driving with his eyes when driving on the highway, and can freely do other things, such as reading mail, handling work matters, etc.
Volvo said the Ride Pilot uses Luminar Iris LiDAR sensors, supplemented by eight cameras, 16 ultrasonic sensors and five radars. At the same time, remote OTA upgrades are supported to ensure safe use of the function in the later stages.
Judging from the current situation of the industry, most of the current unregulated autonomous driving technology has landed on the unmanned taxi project, and this function launched by Volvo is different from that of competitors to some extent.
Currently, Ride Pilot is still in development, and Volvo has already done part of its validation work in Sweden and will be tested on public roads in California in mid-2022. Volvo said it would not let Ride Pilot go public until a "rigorous validation and testing protocol" was completed.
According to the plan, Volvo will first carry this technology on the new electric SUV launched later this year, as a subscription service. Officials said the model will be available in 2023, but it is uncertain what exact date the Ride Pilot system will be available.
Volvo declined to disclose the specific subscription fee for Ride Pilot, but some Volvo executives said they believe a large part of the revenue will come from software sales in the future.
"Volvo is proud to announce plans to introduce our first truly unregulated autonomous driving feature in the U.S. as we want to set a new industry standard for autonomous driving without compromising safety." Mats Moberg, Volvo's head of research and development, said in a statement.