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Volvo announces 2014 XC90’s world-first safety tech

The next Volvo XC90 SUV will arrive in 2014 with loaded with world-first safety technology to take on the Audi Q7 and Land Rover Discovery. The safety arsenal will include after-dark pedestrian detection, road barrier detection, as well as fully autonomous cruise control  and parking capability.  It’s the latest salvo from Volvo’s crack team of safety-obsessed engineers in the fight to realise the company’s ‘Vision 2020’ target – that no occupant of a new Volvo will be killed or seriously injured in an accident by 2020.

This could be your first autonomous vehicle

While Google's autonomous fleet of robot cars prowls Silicon Valley and gets all the press, the first, or one of the first, truly autonomous vehicles you may ride in could be something like this: The humble, people-moving Navia. Developed by a French company called Induct, the Navia is ringed with laser beams (not frickin' laser beams. Ed.) that help it navigate through city streets or college campuses without the aid of a track in the ground, a rail or even GPS (GPS is not accurate enough, Induct says).

British cars dominate desirability survey

BRITISH cars are the best of the best, according to a huge new car popularity survey that has thrown up some shocks. British cars took five of the top six places in the study from Best of the Best, the in-airport and online competition operator that gives away cars as prizes. And among the amazing turn-ups that emerged from the 55,000-person study focusing on desirability, no Ferrari even made the top 20.