Saar: The Swedish carmaker is also pressing home the need for a universal safety standard for autonomous car communication.

Did you catch the teasers that Volvo Cars shared a few days ago? If you did, they really didn’t do justice to what Volvo really had in store for us. The Swedish carmaker has taken the wraps off its own version of what the future of mobility can or will be like. The vehicle you see here is called the Volvo 360c Concept and it really reimagines the way we think about travelling from A to B.

Apart from the four circular wheels, there is nothing common between the Volvo 360c Concept and the car most of us drive today. It is, in fact, a conceptual take on what Volvo envisages as the car of tomorrow. The Volvo 360c is autonomous, connected, electric and safe. Considering how Volvo has always put passenger safety at the core of their product design, we have no doubts about the Volvo 360c Concept being safe. But, there’s a lot more to it than just a safe cabin.

Since the vehicle has been designed to be fully autonomous, there is no steering wheel. Additionally, the concept is fully electric. The absence of a driver’s area and an internal combustion engine helped the Swedes to get creative the interior layout. It could be anything from a mobile office or a living room to an entertainment space or a sleeping cocoon. You get the idea, don’t you! Volvo wants us to either catch up, have fun and catch a few ‘Zs’ on the move while the clever technology takes care of everything else.

The company also says that such a relaxed, productive, non-polluting and safe way of travelling will not just help in attaining a healthy work-life balance but also have a positive environmental impact. And as far as the connected ability is concerned, which will help the car to communicate with the infrastructure as well as the other automobiles on the roads, it will help in less congestion on the roads. If such cars come to exist, Volvo sees possibilities for more residential freedom, reduced pressure on real estate pricing and more affordable home ownership.

But, to be able to imagine the 360c Concept rolling-off a production line, there is one major hurdle that Volvo has highlighted. All autonomous vehicles must be able to efficiently communicate with each other. Not just that, the self-driving automobile should also be intelligent enough to properly signal those vehicles which are being driven in a conventional way. And for all that, the Swedish carmaker is calling for a universal safety standard for autonomous car communication through the 360c Concept. How does the concept car propose to achieve that?

The 360c Concept addresses the challenge with a system comprising external sounds, colours, visuals, movements, as well as combinations of those to communicate the vehicle’s intentions to other road users. Volvo has also highlighted that the system will only indicate what it will be doing next. It will never issue directions or instructions to other road users.

What’s your take on this concept vehicle? Do let us know in the comments below.