OREANDA-NEWS. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan L?fven attends Volvo Cars’ demonstration of self-driving cars in Beijing.

Volvo Car Group’s groundbreaking technology for putting self-driving cars in the hands of real customers by 2017 was demonstrated to media and important decision makers in the Chinese capital Beijing today  – with the Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven joining the event.

Volvo Cars recently presented a unique, complete system solution that makes it possible to integrate self-driving cars into real traffic – with ordinary people in the driver’s seat. The Drive Me project, which will feature 100 high-tech cars, will start rolling on selected roads around Gothenburg by 2017. The Swedish government is a partner in the Drive Me project through the Swedish Traffic Administration and the Swedish Transport Agency.

Bringing the technology to China this week is part of Volvo Cars’ efforts to demonstrate how self-driving vehicles addresses the global sustainable mobility challenges and contribute to the societal development. Implementing autonomous drive will improve safety, reduce emissions and ease mobility in heavily congested urban environments.

“Smart vehicles are a key part of the solution, but a broad societal approach is vital to offer sustainable personal mobility in the future,“ says Lars Danielson, Senior Vice President, Volvo Cars China Operations at Volvo Car Croup. “The unique co-operation with the Swedish government in the Drive Me project is key to a successful implementation of self-driving vehicles. We are very pleased to be able to demonstrate this here in Beijing with the Swedish Prime Minister present."