An exciting breakthrough in cyclist safety
In a ground-breaking collaboration, Volvo Cars, protective gravity sports gear manufacturer POC and Ericsson recently presented an innovative safety technology that, for the first time ever, can connect drivers and cyclists. This new technology was unveiled at the International CES in Las Vegas in January 2015.
The technology consists of a connected car and helmet prototype that will establish two-way communication offering proximity alerts to Volvo drivers and cyclists and thereby avoid accidents. No car manufacturer has previously put a stake in the ground to help address the problem of cyclist/vehicle safety by using Connected Safety technology – until now.
The global growth in cycling, including South Africa, continues unabated as commuters and sport cyclists take to their bikes resulting in an increase in serious cycling accidents. Volvo Cars’ City Safety system – standard on the all-new Volvo XC90 as well as the rest of the Volvo range – is a technology that can detect, warn and auto-brake to avoid collisions with cyclists. It was the industry’s first step to seriously address cyclist safety.
Using a popular smartphone app for bicyclists, like Strava, the cyclist’s position can be shared through the Volvo cloud to the car, and vice versa. If an imminent collision is calculated, both road users will be warned – and enabled to take the necessary action to avoid a potential accident. The Volvo driver will be alerted to a cyclist nearby through a head-up display alert – even if he happens to be in a blind spot, for example behind a bend or another vehicle or hardly visible during night time. The cyclist will be warned via a helmet-mounted alert light.
Klas Bendrik, VP and group CIO at Volvo Cars commented: “The partnership between Volvo Cars, POC and Ericsson is an important milestone in investigating the next steps towards Volvo Cars’ vision to build cars that will not crash. But now, by exploring cloud-based safety systems, we are getting ever closer to eliminating the remaining blind spots between cars and cyclists and by that avoid collisions.”
Per Borgklint, SVP and head of Business Unit Support Solutions at Ericsson said, “There is perhaps no greater promise that the Networked Society holds than its ability to create connections that save lives.”
