I’ve had a driver’s licence for over 12 years now. I like driving. I enjoy the freedom of it. My girlfriend however for one reason or another has never got hers.
To be fair she’s never needed a licence. But it has been on her mind to get one. However I recently showed her something I probably shouldn’t have. I really shot myself in the foot with this one.
And because of what I showed her she’s now refusing to get a driver’s licence…
I could blame myself, as it was me who showed her this amazing thing. But I’m not going to blame myself. It’s not really my fault. It’s the fault of technology.
Actually I shouldn’t really blame technology. So whom do I now blame for my girlfriend not wanting to get a driver’s licence?
I blame Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCVD).
Yep, that’s right. ‘The Muscles From Brussels’ has ruined my chances of getting my own designated driver. Well he’s at least ruined it for the next three years.
Let me explain a bit more.
Have you ever tried reversing a car with a trailer? I have. It’s difficult. You have to flip your thinking to ensure the trailer goes where you want it to.
What would be really difficult though is reversing a truck with a trailer. Of course it’d be hard for me because I’ve never driven a truck to start with.
But if I had, I would imagine that driving it forward would be challenging enough.
So picture driving a truck, in reverse. I’d go so far to say it’s about a million times harder than reversing a car with a trailer.
But for the purpose of my point, let’s make things a little more challenging than just reversing a truck. Imagine reversing a truck about half a metre away from another truck doing the exact same thing.
Just to spice it up a bit more lets have someone stand with one foot on the wing mirror of each truck (about eight feet off the ground).
And now to cap it all off, while reversing, steer your truck away from the other truck to be about one and a half metres apart. Of course the person standing on the wing mirrors is now doing the splits.
If you’re not one of the 56,650,936 people (and counting) that have seen this yet, then you’ve been living under a truck.
What I’ve just described is a real stunt that Volvo Trucks did with JCVD.
You can view it here. But I give you this warning. You will watch it more than three times. If you’re like me, it will blow your mind and you’ll watch it about 20 times.
You might be wondering where I’m going with this. But hear me out.
‘The Epic Split’ is Volvo Trucks demonstration of its new precision steering technology. It’s one example of Volvo technology that separates them from your run of the mill car and truck company.
And this kind of technology is just one pioneering technology the Volvo Group [STO: VOLV-B] provides to the automotive industry. They are true innovators of car and truck safety systems.
Technology like automatic braking and collision warning are standard on all their new cars. When it comes to safety on the roads it’s the number one priority for the company.
The company’s bigger vision is ‘that nobody should be killed or suffer serious injuries in a new Volvo car by the year 2020‘.
But putting aside JCVD and automatic braking systems for one moment. The real way Volvo plan to bring ultimate safety to car occupants and pedestrians is through autonomous driving cars.
They call it the ‘Drive Me’ project. And it’s possibly their most ambitious project ever.
We’ve written before about autonomous cars. Nissan is well underway with their auto-car program. Google [NASDAQ: GOOG] of course has been doing it for years. Even Tesla Motors [NASDAQ: TSLA] has hinted at a possible tie up to get autopilot cars onto the roads.
But my money’s on Volvo. Their track record of getting safety technology to market is second to none. Watch the Epic Split (for the 34th time) for evidence of this.
And nothing is safer than a car that drives on its own. These cars will be more aware of their surroundings than any human.
By 2017 there will be a fleet of 100 Volvos on the streets of Gothenburg in Sweden that won’t require a driver. Furthermore, the Swedish government has fully endorsed the ‘Drive Me’ project.
(Side note: Can you imagine the Aussie goverment giving the green light to Holden for something like this…? Just saying…)
Anyway the press release from Volvo goes so far to say, ‘Our aim is for the car to be able to handle all possible traffic scenarios by itself, including leaving the traffic flow and finding a safe ‘harbour’ if the driver for any reason is unable to regain control.‘
It continues, ‘Autonomous driving will pave the way for more efficient time-management behind the wheel. You will be able to interact safely via phone or tablets or simply choose to relax.‘
Now Volvo is starting a bit later than the others. But they’ve already got the technology needed to get this going tomorrow. So steady as she goes, they’ve aimed for 2017. Which by the way is only just over three short years away.
What this means is that roads will be safer. People will be safer. And I won’t need a designated driver, because my car will be the designated driver.
If Volvo is the first major carmaker to get autonomous cars to market it will send their stock price soaring. Being the world’s first company to sell to market a fully automated car will change the whole game.
The competition is fierce, but I’m betting on Volvo getting to the finish line first.
Oh and it’s because of JCVD that my girlfriend took interest in the Volvo press release about the autonomous cars. When she asked me about it, and then read it herself she simply said, ‘See, why do I need a licence when within the next four years I can just jump in my car say ‘home please’ and play on the iPad all the way home?‘
So thanks JCVD and thanks Volvo. Because Volvo, you might change the world with your autonomous cars. And JCVD you might have a ‘body crafted to perfection. A pair of legs engineered to defy the laws of physics. And a mindset to master the most epic…of splits.‘
But you both also condemn me to be a ‘chauffeur’ for four more years.
Regards,
Sam Volkering+
Technology Analyst
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