Volvo unveils updated safety systems
Volvo Cars has announced that the new XC60 SUV will include three new features intended to keep drivers safer.
Its City Safety feature has been updated to include steering support, which engages when automatic braking alone would not help avoid a potential collision. In such circumstances, the car will provide steering assistance to avoid the obstacle ahead. City Safety helps to avoid collisions with vehicles, pedestrians and large animals. Steering support is active between 50-100 km/h.
Volvo has also added a system called Oncoming Lane Mitigation, which helps drivers to avoid collisions with vehicles in an oncoming lane. The system works by alerting a driver who has unwittingly wandered out of a lane by providing automatic steering assistance, guiding them back into their own lane and out of the path of any oncoming vehicle. This system is active between 60-140 km/h.
Meanwhile, Volvo Cars’ optional Blind Spot Information System, which alerts drivers to the presence of vehicles in their blind spot, has also received an update to include steer assist functionality that helps to avoid potential collisions with vehicles in a blind spot by steering the car back into its own lane and away from danger.
Malin Ekholm, senior director, Volvo Cars’ Safety Centre, said, ‘We have been working with collision-avoidance systems for many years and we can see how effective they are. In Sweden alone we have seen a decline of around 45% in rear-end frontal crashes thanks to our Collision Warning with Autobrake system. With the XC60 we are determined to take the next step in reducing avoidable collisions, with the addition of steering support and assistance systems,’ said Malin Ekholm, Senior Director, Volvo Cars’ Safety Centre.
‘All three of these new features represent clear steps in our work towards fully autonomous cars. We have all of the benefits of the safety technology we introduced in our larger 90 series cars in the new XC60. This is fully in-line with our strategic approach to develop automotive safety systems based on real-life, real-road safety. Our vision is that no one will be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo car by the year 2020.’
