The Volvo next generation concept car has been revealed recently and this should certainly bear influence on the upcoming S90 premium sedan from the company.
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The all new Concept 26 car has been revealed by Volvo and this vehicle features a refreshed interior design that centers on autonomous driving experiences. This concept gets its name from what the company thinks is the average commuting time between office and home, i.e. 26 minutes. The concept is developed on the principle that drivers would be willing to give over their cars to autonomous systems throughout their commutes.
The Concept 26 features a novel seat design and comes with several patented systems which keep occupants in place while the vehicle switches modes like Relax, Drive and Create. In the Drive mode, the regular car layout is followed but the steering is retracted into the dashboard for the other modes. A large display emerges thereafter which can be used for work or infotainment purposes. According to the chief designer for the interiors at Volvo, Tisha Johnson, the company researched deeply as to the wants of customers in their vehicles and reconfigured interiors that allow them to undertake varying activities behind the wheel.
The autonomous mode is activated through paddles mounted on the steering. The paddles are held by drivers for fixed amounts of time and then the autonomous systems come into play. The car also interacts with drivers throughout autonomous modes which enable taking control at any desired time. Some design cues on this concept should find their way to future models such as the eagerly awaited S90 premium sedan which will be debuted in January 2016. The concept takes technology and measurements from the SPA platform possessed by Volvo.
According to Peter Mertens, Vice President of R&D at Volvo, the company has gone the extra mile to understand all the advantages and challenges that autonomous vehicles bring to the table. This has spawned a flexible design and engineering approach that is enabled by the SPA platform, thereby allowing for manifestation of such concepts into reality.