Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
STOCKHOLM (AP) - Swedish-based Volvo Car Group has joined the race to develop self-driving cars, saying it plans to build 100 such vehicles in a pilot project.
The Chinese-owned automaker said Monday it will test its "autonomous" cars on 30 miles (50 kilometers) of selected roads in the Swedish city of Goteborg, starting in 2017.
In what it called "the world's first large-scale autonomous driving pilot project," Volvo said the vehicle would assume all driving functions, though the driver "is expected to be available for occasional control."
Parking would be fully automated, allowing the driver to leave the vehicle as it finds a vacant spot to park by itself.
Autonomous driving is still a long way off for legal and technical reasons but increasingly possible by equipping cars with cameras and computers.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
