Volvo Cars Chief Executive and President Hakan Samuelsson warned that the U.S. could lose its leadership position in the autonomous vehicle sector unless it comes up with one set of nationwide rules and regulations on the development and testing of driverless vehicles.
Samuelsson, who spoke on Friday at a seminar at the Swedish embassy in Washington DC, points out that the U.S. must take a different path from Europe which has suffered to some extent because its policies and laws are patchwork, reports Agence France Presse.
At the seminar titled "A Future with Self Driving Cars - Is It Safe," Samuelsson says that the luxury carmaker is accepting full liability if one of its vehicles is on an autonomous mode. Previously, Mercedes-Benz and Google made similar promises of assuming full liability of there is a collision involving their self-driving cars, reports Fortune.
He cites Google's clocking more than 1 million autonomous miles of testing its driverless cars in the area of Mountain View and the 5,471 kilometers covered by Delphi's specially adapted Audi from San Francisco to New York as proofs of the U.S. leadership in autonomous vehicles testing.
In contrast, the distance covered by a Peugeot Citroen-developed prototype self-driving vehicle tested in France on Oct. 2, 2015, covered only one-tenth of the distance covered by the Audi.
He bewails the different state regulations in testing autonomous vehicles in the U.S. Samuelsson emphasizes, "The absence of one set of rules means car makers cannot conduct credible tests to develop cars that meet all the different guidelines of all 50 US states."
The Volvo executive adds, "If we are to ensure a smooth transition to autonomous mobility then together we must create the necessary framework that will support this."
Volvo is scheduled to release in 2017 at Gothenburg, Sweden, 100 XC90 crossover SUVs fitted with its Intellisafe Auto Pilot system for the Drive Me project. The autonomous vehicles would be available to area families and commuters daily on 50 kilometers to travel on selected roads.