The year 2021 is shaping up to be the golden year for autonomous cars.

Both Volvo Car Group and Ford Motor Company have designated it as the year that its autonomous cars will hit the roads. Volvo’s self-driving car will be focused on luxury-car drivers, with the autopilot features adding $10,000 to the car’s price tag.

While Ford’s plans for its 2021 autonomous car call for no steering wheel, gas or brake pedals, Volvo’s plans differ. At the Global Mobility Leadership Forum in Detroit, Hakan Samuelsson, chief executive officer of Volvo, told reporters that the car’s autopilot would be an optional feature that would allow a driver to disengage completely from their driving environment. Unlike Ford’s, Volvo’s self-driving car will keep the steering wheel, in case the driver has an urge to drive the car rather than relaxing with a movie.  

Volvo’s focus for its 2021 self-driving car is on individual buyers, while Ford is focused on using its fully autonomous vehicles for ride-sharing services.

This doesn’t, however, mean that Volvo is solely focused on individual buyers. This was made clear in August with its $300 million joint investment with Uber Technologies Inc. to provide self-driving cars to the ride-sharing giant. The self-driving car test got underway in Pittsburgh two weeks ago. “If you’re only providing transportation from A to B, you’re heading into trouble,” said Samuelsson. “You still need to have a car that is not just fulfilling the transportation need, but also giving our customers an emotional value, a premium car.”

Ford and Volvo, together with Google Inc., Uber and Lyft Inc. launched the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets initiative earlier this year. The initiative’s aim is to advocate for self-driving cars and new legislation that will govern them.  

Earlier this month, Volvo announced a joint venture with Swedish automotive safety supplier, Autoliv QB, Inc. The joint venture will develop advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous drive systems that will be used in Volvo cars, as well as sold to other automakers.

Although self-driving car tests may already be underway on our public roads, many Americans still have an urge to drive themselves, according to a recent study by Kelley Blue Book. As many as 62 percent of the respondents polled still love to drive and 51 percent would prefer to have full control of their vehicle. Moreover, as many as 80 percent of respondents would still like the option of driving their car even if it has autonomous features.

Image via Volvo