Volvo's not kidding about safety. Apparently out to set some sort of record, the Swedish automaker has announced three new experimental vehicle safety systems at the same time:
- Automatic braking to avoid pedestrians;
- Automatic steering to stop head-on collisions; and
- Communication between cars to reduce traffic pile-ups The first system (above left), which builds on Volvo's existing Collision Warning with Auto Brake system (designed to mitigate vehicle-to-vehicle collisions), uses wide-angle radar to detect objects in front of and around the car, helping the driver "see" pedestrians. When it spots one, a red warning light flashes on the windshield to alert the driver. If the driver still doesn't react to avoid our hapless pedestrian, the car will take matters into its own hands and apply the brakes automatically.
The second system (center), Collision Avoidance by Auto Steering, builds on Volvo's Lane Departure Warning system. It uses a camera to monitor the car's position between stripes on the highway. If the car strays over the line, an audible signal sounds. If the system detects an oncoming vehicle on a collision course, it will automatically steer the car back to a safe position in the original lane.
Finally, Volvo is working on Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication (right). Similar to GM's V2V system, Volvo's setup has test cars giving each other heads-ups about obstacles around the bend. For example, one car can receive information about, say, a rock-slide or a traffic jam, from another car further the road.
Images courtesy of Volvo.
