What's the news?
Here's an unusual reveal for a car company - it's of nothing more than a conceptual interior. This is called Volvo Concept 26 and it has been developed as part of the Swedish firm's on-going project to build a self-driving car.
If you're wondering where the name comes from, the average daily commute takes 26 minutes (well, it does if you live in the US...), and Volvo thinks we could be spending that time more wisely than shunting along in stop-start traffic.
So Concept 26 features a seat design that can switch between three modes: Drive, Create or Relax. If the driver chooses to either work or just kick back and let the autonomous on-board systems do their thing, the steering wheel can retract into the dashboard and the seat alters position, cradling the occupant perfectly as it does so, while a screen emerges from the dash for various functions. It basically means you get three interiors in one, something that should boost the appeal of the self-driving car.
Allow Robin Page, the vice-president of interior design at Volvo Cars, to expand: "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."
Anything else?
Volvo's Drive Me research programme will see autonomous cars driving customers on the roads of Gothenburg by 2017. Whether Concept 26 would make it into production as quick is another matter.