Thursday, October 22, 2009

PEDESTRIAN SAFETY IMPROVED AT VOLVO



VOLVO SAYS: Hot on the heels of its award-winning City Safety system, Volvo Cars has already unveiled the next phase in it's commitment to building vehicles that don't crash – the innovative new system with Collision Warning with Full Auto Brake and Pedestrian Safety.

Each new safety development from Volvo is another move closer to the company's goal of a future without traffic accidents. 'Vision 2020', Volvo Cars short-term target, is that no one will be killed or injured in a new Volvo car by 2020. It's a daunting task, but with developments such as the new Collision Warning with Full Auto Brake, Volvo is confident that this goal will be met.

Volvo Cars will be unveiling its next generation of preventive safety technology, Pedestrian Safety, in conjunction with the new Volvo S60 in 2010.

Collision Warning with Full Auto Brake and Pedestrian Safety represent the next stage in Volvo Cars' continuous development of technology that detects risky situations and help drivers avoid accidents.

Collision Warning with Full Auto Brake and Pedestrian Safety builds on the City Safety system, made famous in the spectacular Volvo XC60, and takes it one step further. City Safety is designed to entirely avoid or minimise rear-end collisions through sensors that detect when the vehicle is getting too close to the one in front of it. The biggest challenge with the Pedestrian Safety system was to refine the sensors to recognise humans – adults and children – in addition to vehicles.

Collision Warning with Full Auto Brake and Pedestrian Safety consists of a new dual-mode radar unit integrated into the car's grille, a camera behind the inside rear-view mirror and a central control unit. The radar and camera continuously monitor the road in front of the car. The radar's task is to detect objects and measure the distance to them. The camera's function is to determine what type of objects they are.

As before, the system is programmed to respond to cars in front that are at a standstill or moving in the same direction. Thanks to the state-of-the-art radar, which has a far wider field of vision than before, pedestrians about to step into the roadway can be detected early. What is more, the camera has better resolution than in the previous generation, allowing the system to monitor pedestrians' movement patterns.

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