Volvo has just made a shocking pledge: By 2020, no one will be killed or seriously injured in their new car or SUV.
Lex Kerssemakers, CEO of Volvo Cars North America, said that "If you meet Swedish engineers, they're pretty genuine, they don't say things when they don't believe in it."
There’s still a problem - if someone really wants to hurt themselves, or is just really, really stupid... well, Volvo can't do anything about that. But, assuming you're not a suicidal maniac or a total idiot, in four years, you'll be safer driving a new Volvo than you are climbing a ladder to screw in a light bulb.
Volvo is actually not the first to talk about deathproof cars, according to data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, there are nine vehicle models, including the Volvo XC90 - in which no one in the United States has died in at least four years.
Volvo, based in Sweden but now owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (GELYY), wants to make this the case for its entire vehicle line up throughout the world. The automaker already tracks how many people die in its vehicles in order to monitor safety.
That way, engineers can tell how much safer their vehicles become each time they roll out a new crash-prevention technology. That also helps Volvo predict how much safer its vehicles will be with each new advancement.
Ultimately, all these new technologies will create a car that can, literally, drive itself. In fact, a number of automakers, not just Volvo, have promised to sell autonomous cars by 2020.
Volvo safety engineer Erik Coelingh, noted that "With the development of full autonomy we are going to push the limits of automotive safety, because if you make a fully autonomous vehicle you have to think through everything that potentially can happen with a car."
That doesn't mean that drivers will necessarily have to use the car's autonomous driving mode in order to be safe, though. Even when the driver is in full control of the car, these systems will still run in the background, ready to take over the instant there's danger.
All we have to do now is to wait for a safer, better future for car owners worldwide.
