‘s vehicle-to-load function, or V2L), which will be able to power other electric devices and even your entire house, such as during peak hours when electricity tariffs are at their more expensive.
Buried in almost every press release, however, is a small but significant proclamation: “The Volvo EX90 will be hardware-ready for unsupervised autonomous driving, meaning that in the future the car can ultimately be able to drive for you.” Volvo seems to be taking an leaf out of Tesla’s book—the latter sells a Full Self Driving Capability package that doesn’t actually drive the car by itself.
You already have lidar sensors on Pro models of the iPhone and iPad, which use lasers to scan a room and deliver better augmented reality experiences. In the Volvo, however, the lidar sensor provide a detailed view of the road ahead, detecting pedestrians up to 250 metres ahead and objects as small as a tyre 120 metres ahead.
Another safety feature—one that’s not related to autonomous driving—is the addition of a radar sensor on the inside of the car, claimed by Volvo to be a world first. This system is meant to prevent children or pets from being forgotten in cars; US government data shows that since 1998, more than 900 children have died after being left in hot cars.