Volvo Car s safety systems help avoid motorway collisions

27 June 2012

Source: Just Auto

The final report from the EuroFOT research project, which has brought together 28 European companies and organisations, confirms that Volvo Car systems to help drivers avoid incidents and collisions deliver significant benefits.

A car with adaptive cruise control and collision warning, for instance, cuts the risk of colliding with the vehicle in front on a motorway by up to 42%.

The large-scale European Field Operational Test on Active Safety Systems (EuroFOT) is a research project supported by European funds. It involves 28 organisations, including Swedish participants Volvo Car, Volvo Trucks and Chalmers University of Technology.

100 Volvo V70 and XC70 models with a total of 263 drivers participated in EuroFOT. All cars were fitted with cameras and sensors that registered every second of every journey for 18 months, which meant that every little incident and situation could be studied and evaluated.

These cars supplied Volvo Car's safety experts with 30 terra bytes of data from 3m kilometres of driving. The final report from EuroFOT also includes material from other vehicle manufacturers.

"The analysis shows that our world leading focus on new safety and support technologies delivers results in everyday traffic conditions. Since the start of EuroFOT, we have presented a number of new systems and in addition refined already existing technologies. One example is Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake, which alerts the driver and automatically brakes the car if there is a pedestrian in the road," said Peter Mertens, senior vice president Research & Development at Volvo Car.

Analysis of five technologiesAnalysis of the Volvos used in EuroFOT focused on five technological solutions:
ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) maintains a preset gap to the vehicle in front. CW (Collision Warning) alerts the driver if a collision of colliding with the vehicle in front is imminent. At the same time, the brakes are prepared for firm braking. BLIS (Blind Sport Information System) alerts the driver to vehicles in the blind spots on both sides of the car. LDW (Lane Departure Warning) warns the driver if the vehicle accidently strays across any of the lane markings. DAC (Driver Alert Control) is designed to detect and warn if the driver is tired or distracted.

Increased safety with cruise control and collision warning The final report from EuroFOT clearly shows that adaptive cruise control and forward collision warning enhance traffic safety. The benefits are greatest on the motorway, where the risk of driving into the vehicle in front is cut by up to 42%.