Last month, Volvo Cars made a number of announcements aimed at supporting better driver behaviour and safer driving. From 2020, all Volvos will be speed-limited to 180kmph. Starting in the early 2020s, the company will also install in-car cameras and other sensors that monitor the driver and allow the car to intervene if a clearly intoxicated or distracted driver is risking an accident involving serious injury or death. In an industry-first, Volvo has announced connected safety technology that will be available across Europe to improve traffic safety.
The technology allows Volvo cars to communicate with each other. The system alert drivers of nearby slippery road conditions and hazards via a cloud-based network. Hazard Light Alert and Slippery Road Alert were introduced in 2016 on Volvo’s 90 series cars in Sweden and Norway. Next week, the features become available to Volvo drivers across Europe. They come as standard on all new model year 2020 Volvos and can be retrofitted on selected earlier models.
Malin Ekholm, Head of the Volvo Cars Safety Centre said “Sharing real-time safety data between cars can help avoid accidents. Volvo owners directly contribute to making roads safer for other drivers that enable the feature, while they also benefit from early warnings to potentially dangerous conditions ahead.”
Safety research by Volvo shows that adjusting speeds to the actual traffic situation can radically reduce the risk for accidents. By alerting people to dangers ahead in a timely manner and allowing them to adapt with time to spare, connected safety technologies can boost traffic safety.
When they were introduced, the systems were the first of their kind in the automotive industry. As soon as any equipped Volvo switches on its hazard lights, the Hazard Light Alert sends a signal to all nearby Volvos connected to the cloud service, warning drivers to help avoid potential accidents. This is particularly useful on blind corners and over the crest of hills in the road.
Meanwhile, Slippery Road Alert increases the driver’s awareness of both current road conditions and those on the road ahead. It anonymously collects road surface information from cars farther ahead on the road and warns drivers approaching a slippery road section in advance.
Though the chances of the tech coming to India in the near future are bleak, it is great to see a manufacturer take initiatives to make driving safe.