It's called the 360c Concept, and it's more of a people transportation pod than a car. The fully electric vehicle tosses aside anything you may have considered conventional in favor of full future. Mårten Levenstam, Volvo's senior vice president of corporate strategy, expanded on their vision.
“When the Wright brothers took to the skies in 1903, they did not have a clue about what modern air travel would look like. We do not know what the future of autonomous drive will hold, but it will have a profound impact on how people travel, how we design our cities and how we use infrastructure.”
"What's so weird about the Concept?" you ask? It begins with a fully connected interface, allowing for communication with other supporting vehicles and infrastructure. It's followed up by Level 5 self-driving capability, which is the highest level on the scale. This means it's fully autonomous. When that's available, you might as well toss out the steering wheel and pedals. With no need to look forward, you can rotate the front seats to that they face the rear ones. Promote discussion with your passengers and what not.
The purpose of the 360c Concept is to encourage contemplation of the future and what it's capable of. With electricity proving a more efficient and reliable fuel source and autonomy developing rapidly, the way we approach the modern car could evolve into something far greater than it is now. This could mean mobile offices, sleep cabin cars, or other portable entertainment systems. Ride-hailing services can become more widespread.
The concept will never make it to market in the current state of the industry, but the fact that it's made it this far shows what potential lies with our automotive future.
