Information about Volvo’s new safety technologies
Volvo have a very well-deserved reputation of making some of the safest car around. And they can only do this by constantly staying in front of the competition safety-wise, which is why they have recently revealed some fresh information about their next generation of vehicle safety systems which are going to protect drivers from stray animals and red-light runners.
There’s a trio of safety projects that Volvo have talked about, there’s an autonomous driving support system, intersection support and animal detection systems. These all gel with the Swedish company’s stated goal that nobody will be injured or killed in a new model by 2020 – quite a lofty goal.
The autonomous driving system that Volvo is currently working on is meant to take away some of the monotony that one will surely start to feel after a longer period of driving. The system is meant to take control of the acceleration, the brakes and the steering in traffic queues, with data being fed from a camera and radar sensors. The system will detect the vehicle in front and it will follow behind it in the same lane, in the case that the front vehicle swerves sharply, so will the autonomous driving system.
The intersection support will be in place to prevent crashes that are caused by vehicles that run red lights and stop signs. The on-board sensors will analyze the traffic around the vehicle and apply the brakes if immediate danger is perceived.
These technologies indeed sound very well, but it’s easy to see how under certain conditions and in various circumstances they might result in a false possitive-type reaction. Well Volvo are thoroughly testing their new safety technologies over hundreds of thousands of kilometers and in a slew of varied traffic conditions. This is necessary because their cars will have to be properly calibrated when sent to various markets, Asian markets with their busy streets and lots of pedestrians and other vehicles are a prime example of this.
