- Volvo says the EX90 has the hardware necessary for unsupervised, autonomous driving.
- But Volvo's promise is different than Tesla's, with a focus on highway driving for the near future.
- Volvo won't say when it expects the EX90's unsupervised autonomous driving software to be ready and approved by regulators.
The Volvo EX90 has all of the hardware ready for autonomous driving. It's just not ready to roll out the software. It needs to verify the technology is safe, and then get regulatory approval. Stop me if you've heard this one before.
"The EX90 is hardware ready for autonomous driving but it's not available for customers at this time," Volvo spokesperson Sophia Durr told InsideEVs via email. "While the EX90 is hardware ready for autonomous driving, we will offer it once the function has been thoroughly verified as safe and all regulatory approvals have been secured. To also add, the availability and activation of autonomous driving in the EX90 varies between regions, countries, and markets in accordance with national regulations."
It's similar to what Tesla's been saying since 2016. CEO Elon Musk said way back then that the cars had all of the hardware necessary for complete autonomy. He later said that Model 3s would be appreciating assets once they became passive income streams through their autonomous robotaxi function. Since he first claimed that the hardware was ready, the cars have been through at least three substantial hardware changes. But there's reason to trust Volvo a little more.
While Tesla's stock price is hinged on a variety of far out promises, and the company still can't mass produce products announced in 2017, Volvo tends to follow an approach more in line with traditional automakers. Even when a product like the EX90 is delayed, it's for six or nine months, not for over three years, as with the Tesla Cybertruck. And the EX90 has hardware no Tesla has: Not only multiple radar sensors, but also a laser-scanning lidar sensor, a first for a U.S. market production car. The company is also being more careful about how it deploys its autonomous driving capabilities. There will be no wild-west, unsupervised beta running amok on city streets and highways alike.
"It will be rolled out gradually when the time comes and only be available on certain urban highways separated with barriers under limited conditions," Durr told InsideEVs. That puts it in line with something like Mercedes Drive Pilot, which is already approved for unsupervised driving in low-speed traffic on certain highways in California and Nevada.
Volvo will also avoid the sort of "who's in control?" confusion common in cars with hands-off capability. Cars from Tesla, General Motors and Ford can be driven in a hands-off mode. But while your hands are not required, your attention is. Whether you're on Autopilot, Super Cruise or BlueCruise, you are legally driving, and have to supervise the system. Volvo thinks hands-off, eyes-on systems are confusing to the customer, and isn't planning to offer them.
"We like to talk about supervised and unsupervised. It's hard for the customer to understand, is it me or the car [driving]?" Elsa Eugensson, a senior manager on Volvo's Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) team, told InsideEVs. "Supervised, you are in control. Unsupervised, you aren't."
As long as Volvo isn't ready to take full responsibility for the car's actions, the EX90 will require drivers to keep their hands on the wheel, and their eyes on the road. But not too much: The car will also warn you if you're staring at the road too much. Here's why.
It strikes me as a more responsible and achievable roadmap than what Tesla's been doing. But there's still reason to be skeptical of Volvo's plan. For starters, the EX90's got a lot of basic software problems to work out before Volvo moves to bigger ambitions. Also, Volvo originally said its goal was to have zero deaths or serious injuries in its cars by 2020. The company quietly walked that back when the task proved bigger than expected. It never announced a new deadline, but reaffirmed that as a long-term goal.
Autonomy, too, is a long-term goal. Unlike Tesla, Volvo's not promising a specific date, only to have to walk it back later. The company says it'll happen, but it doesn't know when.
"I don't have an exact timeline or greater detail on what the experience will look like," Durr said. "When the time comes, we will be able to share more."
Contact the author: Mack.hogan@insideevs.com.
