Rumor Mill: Volvo Getting Into Gas Delivery?

‘Self-filling’ cars would alert mobile fuel suppliers when gas runs low, requesting gas delivery to their location.

February 06, 2015

LONDON – Although the automaker has neither confirmed nor denied, recent news reports say that Volvo is developing “self-filling” cars that wouldn’t need to fill up at gas stations, because the fuel would come to them. According to the Daily Mail, when the tank nears empty, the car would send a request via smartphone to a mobile fuel supplier to come and refuel the vehicle. The supplier would have a secure code to open up the fuel cap, meaning the owner would not even need to be present.

When questioned by the U.K.’s Daily Mail publication, Volvo’s head of technology, Klas Bendrik simply said: “The Internet of things has hit the automotive industry and the widespread use of smartphones is unlocking new potential in what you can do connecting a car with a customer.”

Bendrik did confirm that Volvo had already tested a system where drivers can choose to have a parcel delivered by a courier firm to their car rather than to their homes, so the possibility of delivering gas to unattended vehicles seems like a likely extension of the experiment.

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