Volvo to be a cyclist’s best friend
By 2020 Volvo wants to achieve a no-death or accident scenario
MOTORISTS and cyclists traditionally have a troublesome relationship on our road rage-infested roads.
But an innovative new roadsafety collaboration between Volvo Cars, Ericsson, and sports gear manufacturer POC reduces the possibility of cars and bicycles getting too up-close-and-personal.
Unveiled at the recent International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the prototype technology connects a car and a cyclist’s helmet in a two-way communication that gives proximity alerts to Volvo drivers and cyclists, thereby helping to avoid accidents.
Using a smartphone app for bicyclists, like Strava, the cyclist’s position is shared through the Volvo cloud to the car, and vice versa.
If the system detects an imminent crash, both road users are warned. The car driver is alerted to a cyclist nearby through a head-up display alert – even if the cyclist is in a blind spot, e.g. behind a bend or another vehicle or hardly visible during night time. The cyclist in turn is warned via a helmetmounted alert light.
“The global growth in cycling, including South Africa, continues unabated as commuters and sport cyclists take to their bikes,” says a Volvo spokesman. “This has resulted in an increase in serious cycling accidents, an issue that Volvo Cars and POC believe is unacceptable and requires an innovative and concerted effort to address.”
Although this system’s still in the prototype phase, all new Volvos already come standard with a City Safety system that can detect, warn and auto-brake to avoid collisions with cyclists, pedestrians and other vehicles.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that around 1.2 million people are killed and more than 50 million injured in traffic accidents every year, which will worsen if no action is taken.
The Volvo Cars Traffic Accident Research Team has been investigating all types of traffic accidents since 1970 and uses this real-world research to design safer cars.
Volvo Cars’ long term vision is to design cars that don’t crash, but in the short term, the aim is that by 2020 no one should be killed or injured in a new Volvo.