Self-driving car technology has come a long way since Google first showed off an autonomous vehicle in 2010, but car makers are still working on cars that are truly self-driving and can get from point A to B without much human interaction.

Volvo is getting much closer to making this a reality, though, and announced today that it will provide self-driving cars to 100 of its customers in Gothenburg, Sweden by 2017 so they can test them out on public roads.

"We are entering uncharted territory in the field of autonomous driving," Peter Mertens, senior vice president of research and development at Volvo, said in a statement. "Taking the exciting step to a public pilot, with the ambition to enable ordinary people to sit behind the wheel in normal traffic on public roads, has never been done before."

The 100 cars in Volvo's "Drive Me" project will be equipped with a network of sensors, cloud-based positioning systems, and intelligent braking and steering technologies - 28 in all, according to Car and Driver.

Set it to Autopilot, and the car will take over, presumably leaving you to apply makeup, read a book, respond to texts and emails, and eat breakfast on the morning commute.

For driving enthusiasts, though, the car will eventually allow passengers to switch between autonomous and active driving, Mertens said. "This transforms everyday commuting from lost time to quality time, opening up new opportunities for work and pleasure."

But there is still work to be done. The biggest challenge is to get the car to respond to unexpected real-world scenarios like pedestrians, items in the road, or other cars that cut you off. As a result, Volvo will initially test its vehicles on select roads with suitable conditions, like no oncoming traffic, cyclists, or pedestrians.

"It is relatively easy to build and demonstrate a self-driving concept vehicle, but if you want to create an impact in the real world, you have to design and produce a complete system that will be safe, robust, and affordable for ordinary customers," said Erik Coelingh, Volvo technical specialist.

So, that system will include back-up systems, Volvo said, which will take over in the unlikely event of a brake failure, for example. "Making this complex system 99 percent reliable is not good enough. You need to get much closer to 100 percent before you can let self-driving cars mix with other road users in real-life traffic," Coelingh said.

Still, if there is a technical failure, bad weather, or the journey simply comes to an end, the driver can easily take over. If you're incapacitated (asleep? drunk?) and can't take over, the car will just come to a stop in a "safe place," Volvo said.

For more, see Taking Volvo's Self-Driving Car for a Spin.

Earlier this month, the U.K. government announced plans for the testing of autonomous vehicles on public roads. The government said it will publish a Code of Practice in spring 2015 for those who want to test driverless vehicles on U.K. roads. Expect to see those vehicles driving around by this summer.

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