Volvo’s safe future

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It used to be a simple matter of counting air bags when assessing a car’s safety potential. But now there are all sorts of things like radar-guided intelligent cruise control, driver alertness and pre-collision systems.

Volvo has plans to deploy radar in a collision warning and automatic braking system. A wide-angle search system detects pedestrians and other objects in front of and around the vehicle; the sensor then sends a warning signal to a driver’s heads-up display if a hazard has been detected. If the driver doesn’t hit the brakes, the car will do so. And should the driver manage to brake in time but a heavier foot is required, the system will oblige.

Another new technology, collision avoidance by auto steering, uses both radar and a camera. It’s an evolution of Volvo’s lane departure warning feature. If a car moves across a set of lane markers (without the turn signal being activated), the system emits an audible warning. The technology can tell whether there’s any oncoming traffic and can activate the steering to move the car back to safety.

These are two things that could find their way into vehicles in the near future. But looking ahead a little further, Volvo is also working on a way for cars to ‘talk’ to one another. If a car that is far in front, or just around a blind corner, has to slam on its brakes suddenly, it can send a signal to the car behind that there is a possible hazard. For this to work properly, though, there has to be a standardized language that works across every make and model, plus an agreement on various situations and how they should be prioritized.

Enhancing safety with communication, knowledge and awareness. How about that? Think those attributes could work in the wider world?

-- Colin Ryan