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The crash-proof car is coming
Volvo’s new XC60 can avoid low-speed shunts, but that is just the start of a revolution in driving safety, says Emma Smith
Imagine a world in which parents could nonchalantly hand over their car keys to their teenage son, safe in the knowledge that the car would look after him. A future in which human error is eliminated by electronic systems capable of foreseeing smashes and taking preventative action; a world in which car crashes almost never happen.
Under Volvo’s Vision Zero, that world may be nearer than we think, as the car maker plans to launch the first virtually crash-proof car by 2020.
Faced with stiff competition from other manufacturers vying for its safety crown, the company that brought us the three-point safety belt in 1959 and the airbag in 1987 is now upping the ante. Having spent the past 50 years inventing new ways to protect drivers and passengers in an accident, engineers at Volvo’s Gothenburg research centre in Sweden are now channelling their energies into stopping them happening in the first place.
“In the past it has been acceptable that people die in cars,” says Jan Ivarsson, leader of Volvo’s safety research team. “In the future, I don’t think this attitude will be socially acceptable.”
Strong, lightweight materials, “intelligent” airbags, complex radar and sonar sensors and GPS tracking will not only provide maximum protection, but will be able to monitor other vehicles, watch out for hazards, and even take over the controls to manoeuvre a car out of danger. Volvo talks of a “giant electronic bumper reaching out on all sides to gather information and feed it back to the car” – even before the flawed human at the steering wheel has become aware of a problem.
“Think of it like an autopilot system in an aircraft,” says Ivarsson, whose team of safety specialists includes not just engineers but also experts in biomechanics and human behaviour. “We still want the driver in the loop, but in the future there will be times when the car is in control.”
The first indications of Volvo’s future plans are on display in the new XC60, which will arrive in the UK in the autumn. The compact SUV will include a low-speed collision-avoidance system called CitySafety as standard. It is designed to prevent the sort of rear-end shunts that often occur in stop-start urban traffic.
CitySafety works only at speeds below 19mph and uses laser sensors in the windscreen coupled with software able to measure the distance from the car in front and calculate its speed relative to your own. If the car in front suddenly reduces speed at a greater rate than yours does, CitySafety primes itself to stop the car. Then, if the driver fails to react and the system senses an imminent collision, it slams on the brakes.
“You might think the driver could be relied on to brake hard in this situation,” says Ivarsson. “But our research shows about 50% of drivers don’t brake at all before a crash – perhaps because they are paralysed by fear or simply distracted.
“The other 50% may brake, but probably not as effectively as they could do. A system like CitySafety ensures the vehicle slows down and brakes at the right moment.”
CitySafety will be rolled out gradually across the Volvo range, as well as some Ford models, as Ford owns the Swedish marque. And this is just the beginning of Volvo’s radical plans to revolutionise the way we drive.
Ivarsson foresees advances in driver information, with, for example, vehicles communicating with each other about traffic conditions and accidents further up the road. GPS tracking will provide drivers with real-time traffic information, in much the same way that a pilot or a ship’s captain is given detailed information of other planes or vessels in their vicinity, although drivers might object to their cars’ movements being tracked in this way.
“It would need good cooperation between companies and states, so the infrastructure can be implemented and you would need to devise standards,” admits Ivarsson.
Other systems would inform drivers about road and weather conditions and perhaps adjust accordingly the way the car drives. Intelligent airbags would inflate at the right speed and to just the right degree to match the strength or direction of an impact.
And then we come to that giant electronic bumper. Ivarsson explains: “Today you have very strong structures around the car to absorb impacts. But there is a limit to how big these can be. Radar or sonar sensors could be added to continually monitor other vehicles or nearby objects and to make sure the brakes are primed if a potential collision is detected, and then that the brakes are employed at exactly the right moment so that the car stops much more efficiently.
“This would effectively increase the deformation – or crumple – zones of the car, because you would be travelling at a much lower speed at the point of impact.”
Other car makers are pursuing similar goals. Mercedes, Citroën and BMW are just some of the companies to introduce various forms of “lane departure warning” system, to stop drivers drifting out of their lane on motorways. Some systems, such as Lexus’s Lane Keep Assist, can automatically correct the steering to maintain lane position. And of course cruise control, electronic stability control, traction control and even antilock braking all take away some of the onus on driver skills.
Almost 32,000 people were killed or seriously injured on British roads in 2006 (the most recent figures available). Around the world, 1.2m people die in car accidents and a further 50m are injured every year.
Some safety campaigners argue that the removal of human error could radically reduce road casualties, but others remain sceptical about how far machines should take over.
“We have to be very careful not to ‘underload’ the driver,” cautions Peter Rodger, chief examiner for the Institute of Advanced Motorists. “There is an issue in the airline industry that if the pilot is inadequately involved and something goes wrong, it takes them a long time to actively take over.
“There needs to be adequate involvement so the driver isn’t allowed to switch off in this way, so that they are ready to react if something goes wrong. We also need to be confident that these systems have the power to work in myriad real-life situations.”
Volvo admits some of its ideas may require new legislation and cooperation from governments before they can be properly implemented. And although a “crash-proof” car might sound like the ultimate low risk for insurance companies, if the car, rather than the driver, is in control, then who is responsible if it crashes?
“It does raise some imponderable questions,” says Ian Crowder of AA Insurance. “What if one of these devices steers you out of the path of another vehicle, but into a pedestrian on the other side, for example?
“And who would be to blame if these systems failed?”
...and the safety devices that are already here
Lane Departure Warning
Alerts the driver if they veer out of lane. Some systems also steer the car
back into position. Piloted on Mercedes trucks in 2000, and now available on
some models from BMW, Volvo, Citroën and Lexus
Blind Spot Information System (BLIS)
A camera in each door mirror monitors the road alongside the car and alerts
the driver via a warning light in the mirror that a vehicle has entered the
blind spot. Launched by Volvo in 2004
Brake assist
Detects via rapid pedal movement (off the accelerator and onto the brake) when
a driver is braking in an emergency, and automatically applies full braking
pressure. It’s on BMWs, Mercedes and Volvos, and the European commission
wants it to be standard on new cars by 2009
Night vision assist
On some Mercedes models infrared headlights invisibly “illuminate” the road
ahead to an infrared-sensitive camera. An image with double the usual field
of vision is then created and displayed on the dashboard
This system is fantastic! So well thought out! The driver in front stops suddenly and you are too close, because you haven't been paying attention properly, the car's laser sytem will take over and 'slam on the brakes': Phew! Now all you have to do is wait for the car behind to slam into you.....
Philip Hastings, Sherborne, UK
Yet more reasons for the driver to ignore what happens in front.
Be interesting to know if they've considered a car closing on a sml vehicle like a motorbike or cycle.
You'll have more back end shunts as these vehicles slam on their brakes as bikes filter thru gaps or bags fly up in front.
STUPID
Gary, Farnham, UK
I am interested in Mr. Ivarsson's views on the USDOT Vehicle Infrastructure Integratio (VII) Program. This proposes both a V2V component, but also a V2I element which is critical for collision avoidance at intersections, for example. VII would seem to enable a more cooperative infrastructure.
Tim McGuckin, DC, USA