Late last year, Volvo unveiled the Concept 26, which according to Volvo was “named to reflect the average daily commute to work of 26 minutes — time that could be spent doing something more meaningful than sitting in stop-start traffic.” continued from page 19 Automakers Look to Safety, Not Cool Factor Safety, not cool, tends to be the driving force behind the rationale for taking human drivers out of cars. Distracted drivers are not safe drivers and as Facebook, Twitter, TV shows, movies, and email has moved into our cars, our attention span has gone right out the window. When you think of automotive safety, you get to Volvo pretty quickly, and the company is emerging as a leader in autonomous vehicles. Late last year, Volvo unveiled the Concept 26, which according to Volvo was “named to reflect the average daily commute to work of 26 minutes — time that could be spent doing something more meaningful than sitting in stop-start traffic.” The images issued with the Volvo press release showed us what we think we really want. Fashionably clad people sit in a moving car reading magazines and chatting on the phone. We get a steer- ing wheel that telescopes into the dash and a reclining driver’s seat complete with footrest. A video screen listing, “my unwatched epi- sodes,” sits in front of an empty passenger seat. Changing Generations, Changing Priorities The Concept 26 is still a concept, but it shows that our world has changed and that the automotive industry is paying attention. For most commuters, the drive to work has no joy built into it. It’s a chore to be endured. That’s why everybody wants to free us up to surf the net, read a book, or update our status. On some level, automated cars represent competition to public transportation, where people can sit back, open a laptop, or whip out a tablet. The size of that market and the untapped potential has not gone unnoticed by the eye of the industry. Could the millennials have something to do with this? According to Lacey Plache, chief economist for Edmunds.com, in an interview with Fox Business, “The financial crisis hit the younger generations the hardest and now a lot of these people don’t have the financial wherewithal to get credit to get a car. They don’t have jobs or an apartment, so right now many of them don’t have the need for a car.” That all makes financial sense, but how do we account for the fact that according to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety only 44 percent of teens get a driver’s license within a year of becom- ing eligible and only 54 percent are licensed before turning 18? Are 20 AutoDealer | SPRING 2016 we now reaping the seeds sown by driving kids all over creation as they stare into their phones or watch movies in the back seat? Is it a temporary glitch or the start of a long-term permanent trend? In an interview with Fox Business, Karl Brauer, a senior analyst with Kelly Blue Book said “everyone in the industry and support- ing it are watching very closely whether this is a temporary shift of not getting a license until 20 and not buying a car until even later or if this is a permanent change.” Study results can be a mixed bag. Ford recently published its fourth annual edition of “Looking Further with Ford,” a 52-page study that examines crowdfunding, heroes, the tiny home move- ment, time poverty, and text neck — a condition caused by staring into one’s phone, which according to the study, Americans do for 4.7 hours a day. Over 60 percent of the globally sampled, under-35, adults said, “I can easily imagine how I would fill my time if I was riding in a self-driving car.” But only 40 percent of the U.S. youngsters said “I can see myself buying a self-driving car in the future. By contrast, 84 percent of young people surveyed in India said they “would buy a self-driving car.” Honda Tackles the Challenge Meanwhile in Japan, Honda is driving toward autonomous vehi- cles from a slightly different angle. Google has been putting its technology eggs into the basket called LIDAR, a system of car- mounted sensors and software that steers the car around hazards. While LIDAR continues to rack up mileage and good press, some believe the future of autonomous vehicles point towards “Vehicle to Infrastructure” — the technology known as “V2I.” V2I presupposes that sensors will be placed not only in cars, but also mounted on light poles or embedded into the highway. Actual results of V2I systems have been mixed but Honda is still touting the possibilities. Frank Paluch, president of Honda R&D Americas, talked about the system and the progress in remarks delivered at a recent SAE keynote address. He said, “We have a V2I initiative in Japan called Green Wave that, in field tests, reduced travel time and improved fuel-efficiency by 12 percent, simply by coaching the driver on the optimal speed to avoid congestion and red lights.”