Auto Exec: 'Driverless' Technology Is Coming
Auto Show Pulls Up
(CBS) -- You won't find one on the floor of the Chicago Auto Show or your local car dealership, but a lot of people are talking about driverless car technology.
Snicker if you want -- and some watching a promotional video Wednesday showing a man reading in the driver's seat of a moving car did just that -- Volvo USA President Les Kerssemakers says it's coming.
He says it's a marathon, not a sprint.
"If we were to put autonomous (driverless) cars on the road now, I'm not so sure that the consumer is ready for it," he said. "But five years ago, consumers were not ready for adaptive cruise control. It evolves. Ten years ago nobody knew how to operate with an Apple phone."
Kerssemakers says the National Highway Traffic Administration's decision to spend $4 billion over 10 years to help test and set standards is a huge step. He says working with 50 individual states would be a nightmare.
Kerssekmakers doesn't expect production models till 2020 or thereafter. Executives from Volvo, Google, Delphi, GM, Fiat-Chrysler, Ford and Tesla attended last month's announcement. There is speculation that Google may seek to work with an existing automaker, but Kerssemakers says it has not approached Volvo to partner.
This article was originally written by Bob Roberts for CBSChicago.com.
