Volvo gives truck drivers all-around visibility

Volvo Trucks has developed new technology specifically to protect pedestrians and cyclists. The technology, developed in a research project called Non-Hit Car and Truck in cooperation with Volvo Cars. Volvo Trucks’ research shows that limited visibility is one of the main causes of heavy truck accidents with vulnerable road users in Europe. It claims its new technology enables a vehicle to do a 360 degree scan of everything that happens around it, receiving information via sensors, radars and cameras
October 8, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
5874 Volvo Trucks has developed new technology specifically to protect pedestrians and cyclists. The technology, developed in a research project called Non-Hit Car and Truck in cooperation with 7192 Volvo Cars.

Volvo Trucks’ research shows that limited visibility is one of the main causes of heavy truck accidents with vulnerable road users in Europe.

It claims its new technology enables a vehicle to do a 360 degree scan of everything that happens around it, receiving information via sensors, radars and cameras placed around the vehicle. This enables the vehicle to interpret its environment and feed information to the driver on how to avoid accidents. If the driver does not respond to the suggested actions, the steering or braking system can be activated autonomously.

“Today’s Volvo trucks are designed to eliminate any vehicle blind spots. But in situations with heavy traffic it is easy for a driver to miss something important such as an approaching cyclist on the vehicle’s passenger side. Now we can solve this issue and help the driver see and understand everything that is happening around the vehicle”, says Carl Johan Almqvist, Volvo Trucks’ Traffic and Product Safety director.

More testing is required, but Volvo hopes to make it a reality in five to ten years.

Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The weighty problem of truck routing enforcement
    March 17, 2015
    The growing impact of heavy commercial vehicles on urban and interurban highway infrastructures around the world is driving the need for reliable route access restriction and monitoring. The support role of enforcement is proving fertile ground for ITS development. Bridges are especially vulnerable – and critical in terms of travel delays. The US state of Oregon’s Department of Transportation (ODOT) operates what it claims is one of the country’s most aggressive truck route restriction enforcement programme
    Read More
  • Cooperative road infrastructures - progress and the future
    February 1, 2012
    Robert Bertini, deputy administrator of the USDOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administration, discusses the research and deployment paths of cooperative road infrastructures. High-level analysis by the US's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the potential of Vehicle-to-Infrastructure/Infrastructure-to-Vehicle (V2I/I2V) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) technologies indicates that V2V could in exclusivity address a large proportion of crashes involving unimpaired drivers. In fact,
    Read More
  • Here to lead vehicle hazard warning pilot in Finland
    July 1, 2015
    Mapping and navigation specialist Here has been selected by Finnish traffic agencies Finnish Transport Agency (FTA) and Trafi, the Finnish Transport Safety Agency to lead a pilot project to enable vehicles to communicate safety hazards to others on the road. Here will also work with traffic information management service company Infotripla in implementing the project, which will be the first to implement a road hazard warning messaging system as described in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
    Read More
  • Temporary traffic monitoring with Bluetooth and wi-fi
    May 31, 2013
    David Crawford reviews developments in temporary ITS. Widespread take-up of technologies such as Bluetooth and wi-fi are encouraging the emergence of more sophisticated, while still cost effective, ITS responses to the traffic issues posed by temporary road situations such as work zones and special events. Andy Graham of traffic solutions specialists White Willow Consulting says: “A machine-to-machine radio link is far easier and cheaper than reading characters on a plate.” There can be other plusses. Tech
    Read More

Highlighted Content