Back to the Future Day may now be long gone, but that hasn’t stopped Volvo announcing that it’s due to introduce a new ‘Time Machine’ concept at the LA Auto Show this month.
Disappointingly, the concept won’t actually be able to travel through time, but has instead been created as an exercise to show off Volvo’s new Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) underpinnings.
The same architecture on which the new XC90 is built, the Time Machine features a range of brand new autonomous and semi-autonomous kit that’s due to appear on future Volvo models.
Volvo is due to introduce 14 new cars over the next three years based on the SPA architecture, which allows the company to quickly adapt new vehicles to individual, market or societal needs.
Anders Tylman-Mikiewicz, general manager of Volvo’s Monitoring and Concept Centre, said: “You won’t be able to go back in time and meet the legends of history, or go into the future and meet your kids.
“But when our planned concept is applied to a SPA based vehicle, it has the potential of giving significant time back to drivers.”
The idea is that the Time Machine’s autonomous systems, which will be capable of allowing the car to partially control itself, will save drivers time by allowing them to concentrate on other things than driving.
No pictures of the concept vehicle have been released yet, but it’s due to make its grand debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show on November 18th.
