Concept Recharge, A Volvo Concept Car That Runs Safely When The Driver Sleeps

Concept Recharge, the latest concept car from Volvo that is all-electric with various advanced features. (photo: Volvo)

JAKARTA - Volvo has launched a new all-electric concept car, which is predicted by the Swedish car manufacturer to be the vehicle of the future. So advanced, this car is claimed to be able to run even when the driver is asleep.

The prototype was revealed at a “Tech Day” event held on Wednesday, June 30 when Volvo laid out a broader roadmap to becoming an EV-only carmaker by 2030.

The car, called the "Concept Recharge," has doors that open to the left and right of the roomy side. Because this car does not have a combustion engine, there is more room for the driver and passengers. The sleek exterior design and minimalistic interior take into account the designs of Tesla cars as well as other EVs on the market, such as the Ford Mustang Mach-E.

Henrik Green, chief technology officer at Volvo, said a possible "market version" of the Concept Recharge could become a reality in the next three years.

"All proportions are realistic for us in the future," Green told The Verge. “Having what we call a “suicide door” without a B-post is probably something that doesn't show up in real cars.”

Volvo says it plans to sell 600,000 by the middle of this decade and will build a battery manufacturing facility in Europe by 2026. The company says it is working with Swedish partner Northvolt on a new generation of batteries with higher energy density and designed to be used in an integrated manner as an element. vehicle structure.

The new battery, which is predicted to appear after 2025, will allow for longer driving distances between charges capable of cruising up to 625 miles (1,006 km) and significantly faster charging times.

Volvo is repeating its plan to equip many of its cars with a lidar laser sensor from Luminar, which will help improve safety and set up more autonomous driving features in the future.

Last week, Volvo announced that lidar would come as standard on its passenger vehicles. However the hands-free highway driving feature which will be activated by the lidar laser will incur additional costs.

Volvo is also bringing in internal software development, which Green describes as a way to help accelerate the deployment of new updates to the company's fleet or fix bugs in the system.

The new operating system, to be called VolvoCars.OS, will power the company's next generation of electric cars. This system also allows car drivers to drive without having to watch the road. Maybe even left to sleep during the trip. But for now, all advanced driver assistance systems still require drivers to pay attention to the road.