Volvo is an ambitious automotive company and one of Scandinavia’s largest exports. It generates billions for the local economy and produces some of the most desirable vehicles in the world.
However, in the middle of the last decade, the automobile company achieved something that no other automobile company had ever done before. The company has set itself the goal of eliminating all serious injuries in its vehicles by 2020.
Unfortunately, “Vision 2020” did not succeed. Autonomous driving technology just didn’t turn out the way he hoped. But as with most stretch goals, a lot of good came from the endeavor.
Now Volvo has taken all of these insights and integrated them into its latest premium model fully electric SUV: the EX90. The company aims to provide drivers with a highly protective experience and prevent them from being exposed to the dangers on the road.
The amount of technology Volvo is incorporating into its new vehicles is staggering. The company has some of the most advanced features in the industry, taking care of everything from blind spots to pedestrians.
The safety features of the vehicle
For example, when you buy the car, you get what is called a “driver understanding system”. These are essentially two interior sensors and a capacitive steering wheel that can detect whether you are sleepy and whether the vehicle needs to intervene to keep you on the road. For example, if you doze off at the wheel, the car has technology that keeps it on the road and issues alerts telling you to wake up and stop. It’s a remarkable setup.
Another function called Occupant detection, takes a slightly different approach. Instead of focusing on helping you stay on the road, it alerts you if you accidentally leave something in the vehicle to prevent a dangerous scenario.
For example, let’s say you go to the grocery store with your baby but forget that you left him in the back seat. If you make this mistake, the EX90 will sound an audible alarm and send another one to your phone. The same goes for children, dogs, and even valuable items left in the backseat from criminals.
Volvo is also integrating the new EX90 with its intersection-straight-intersection functionality. Automakers know that intersections are among the most dangerous road features. Many drivers plow through them without paying attention to stop signals, leading to T-bone-style accidents.
“We see accidents like this a lot in our industry,” says Demand the Limit, an attorney who handles personal injury cases. “Erroneous drivers skip traffic lights and don’t bother to look both ways to see if oncoming traffic is approaching. This makes accidents much more likely because the victim believes they are safe.”
The Volvo EX90 solves this problem by using intelligent sensors to scan upcoming intersections. Computers can decide whether to expect an oncoming vehicle to jump the light and automatically apply emergency braking on your behalf to prevent a collision.
The Car accident lawyer believes the technology will save lives. “Intersection accidents are undoubtedly among the most common. Any device that can prevent them will have a significant impact on the number of serious road injuries.”
But the safety technology doesn’t end there. Volvo is also pioneering its Safe Space technology, which uses a combination of ultrasonic sensors, lidar, radar and cameras to ensure the EX90 avoids danger. According to the automaker, all of these systems continuously scan the road and look for dangers in front of the car, allowing the vehicle to accurately identify the locations and distances of other cars with high precision. This information allows the vehicle to better understand the environment and provide “assistance” to the driver when needed.
The form of this support can basically be any, which is what makes the car so advanced. There is no attempt at all to pigeonhole Safe Space technology or to apply it to specific situations. Instead, the vehicle detects when various safety thresholds are exceeded and intervenes immediately.
In practice, this means the car can brake if you’re approaching traffic from behind too quickly, take over if you swerve out of your lane, and even slow you down if you’re approaching a curve or intersection too quickly . Combined with the Pilot Assist function, it provides a smoother and more relaxed driving experience.
“The ability to detect potential accidents before they happen is game-changing,” says Demand the Limit. “The number of people who could avoid going into debt to pay medical bills or take time off from work is enormous.”
What Demand the Limit describes is essentially the human cost of accidents and something Volvo wants to avoid. Like the manufacturers of other products, the company wants to reduce the risks for its consumers and provide them with a safe cocoon that protects them from serious damage on the road. The vehicle can essentially take over and assist the driver even if they are distracted for some reason, making accidents less likely.
Of course, not everyone who travels can afford such sophisticated technology. However, the same used to apply to the air conditioning, which is now standard equipment on all entry-level vehicles.
So is it possible to stop crashes?
That’s unlikely Volvo’s technology From the looks of it, crashes are stopped single-handedly. While this allows drivers to avoid a variety of situations, the possibility of a collision remains. It can happen at any time that other drivers crash into the EX90 before it can get out of the way.
However, that is not the end of the story. While accidents will still happen as long as human drivers are in control of the vehicles, Volvo is also working on technology that will mitigate the impact when they happen. These include, among other things, the ultra-reinforced frame, side airbags and numerous crumple zones that protect vehicle occupants from all directions.
In short, completely preventing accidents is probably not possible without massive changes to the entire vehicle fleet. But these technological innovations will certainly have a significant impact.
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