Volvo Cars unveils radical Concept 26, intending to free up commuting time
Volvo Cars' research into autonomous driving has led them to develop the Concept 26, which is designed to save motorists precious time in their daily commute.
The Concept 26 is named after the average daily commute time in the US, and is based around an all-new patented seat design. The radical design cradles the driver during a 'transformation' phase into one of three driving modes: Drive, Create or Relax.
When the driver wants to let the car pilot itself, the steering wheel retracts, the seat reclines and a large display emerges from the dashboard.
Robin Page, Vice President of Interior Design at Volvo Cars, said: "It's all about people. Our research clearly shows that some people will want to use their commuting time creatively when they have full autonomous drive available, while others will want to just sit back and relax, watch online media or listen to music. Autonomous drive will make all of this possible. This is what Concept 26 has captured by reimagining the entire car experience."
Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Volvo Car Group, said: "We have gone to great lengths to understand the challenges and opportunities that autonomous cars will bring to people in coming years, and our flexible approach to engineering and design, enabled by our new Scalable Product Architecture, means that we can readily bring this from concept to reality."