"In the longer term, it is entirely realistic to have a zero vision
regarding accidents involving trucks. We will show tomorrow's
safety solutions, including an all-new generation of
driver-assistance systems. They build on dialogue between drivers,
electronic functions and the surrounding traffic environment,
making the vehicle itself more or less automated depending on the
circumstances," says Carl Johan Almqvist, traffic and product
safety director at Volvo Trucks. "However, even as we approach the
zero vision, we can never allow technology to fully take over
responsibility for driving. That role is and will remain the task
of the professional and skilled driver."
Automatic driver
assistance
On the
Volvo stand, the company is presenting the latest technological
solutions in the field of active safety in the form of a concept
truck and a driving simulator. The simulator demonstrates Automated
Queue Assistance, a function whereby the vehicle accelerates and
brakes automatically at low speeds, for instance in slow-moving
traffic tailbacks.
On its stand, Volvo Trucks is also displaying a truck that is part
of an EU project entitled "Highly Automated Vehicles for
Intelligent Transport" (HAVEit). It is a major investment in
intelligent next-generation vehicles featuring advanced
driver-assistance systems.
Among their many special features, the HAVEit trucks include
E-horizon, which via links to map databases provides the driver
with information about hills, curves and junctions ahead on his
route. The driveline is accordingly adapted so that progress is as
efficient and economical as possible.
Vehicles that talk with
one another
On a test track outside the exhibition grounds, visitors can test
drive trucks from the international Safespot project, whose brief
is to examine how tomorrow's cars and trucks can communicate with
one another and with the surrounding infrastructure.
The Safespot project has defined and tested various applications
based primarily on the vehicle, such as safety in junctions,
warning of frontal impact, warning of poor road surface or
detection of cyclists and pedestrians.
On the test track there are also trucks from the CVIS (Cooperative
Vehicle Infrastructure Systems) research project, which focuses on
infrastructure-based applications. These applications encompass
speed alerts, warnings of accidents on the road and the creation of
safety margins for emergency rescue vehicles, among much else. The
driver receives the information via a display screen or in the form
of audio/visual signals in the vehicle cab. However, the
information can also be transmitted via signs or flashing lights at
the side of the road.
Monitoring builds up new
knowledge
Volvo Trucks is also presenting the euroFOT research project, which
involves 28 European companies and organisations. The aim of the
project is to create safer and more efficient road transport by
collecting valuable data from the traffic
environment.
The aim is that the project should get under way in 2010. Volvo
trucks packed with a variety of monitoring devices will drive on
the roads, gathering data over a period of one
year.
"This gives us a new opportunity to register in detail a wide
variety of potentially dangerous situations, study driver behaviour
and evaluate the benefits of new accident-prevention safety systems
- and to build up knowledge for the development of forthcoming
technologies," says Carl Johan Almqvist.
Volvo can be found on stand F20.