Driver Ploughs Volvo Into Dealer Staff After Mistakenly Thinking His Car Was 'Self Driving'

Always Check Your Car Is Actually Self-Driving Before You Give A Demo
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A video has appeared seemingly showing the horrific moment that a 'self-driving' car ploughed into a group of dealership staff during a demo gone wrong.

The video shows the Volvo reversing and then accelerating into the unsuspecting staff who assumed that Volvo's 'self driving' safety features would auto-brake the car.

Well it didn't auto-brake and instead it drove straight into them.

The video is terrifying to be sure, however it doesn't tell the full picture. Rather than an AI car gone mad this is actually an almost-entry into the 'Darwin Awards'.

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The driver didn't realise that his model doesn't have 'Pedestrian Detection', so when he slammed his foot on the accelerator the car actually didn't have a clue that it was about to hit anyone or anything for that matter.

According to a Volvo spokesperson the car was equipped with the more basic City Safety mode which can only detect vehicles on the road and will brake if it thinks your about to drive into the back of one.

While both systems use similar sensors, the 'Pedestrian Detection' system requires a number of crucial technologies including a front-facing camera which -- combined with radar -- can intelligently identify the difference between a car and a person.

Even then the car would't have stopped, why? Because he had his foot down and if the car detects you're flooring it the safety systems are overridden assuming that you're actually trying to move out of the way of an incoming danger.

Correction:An earlier version of this article suggested that the car was being demoed to journalists, it has now been confirmed that they were dealership staff. The article has been amended to reflect this.