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Volvo Car Corporation Takes the Strain out of the Daily Commute With a Technology That Automatically Follows the Vehicle in Front
LONDON, October 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
Volvo Car Corporation has taken another step on the journey towards autonomous driving
- self-driving vehicles - by demonstrating a new traffic jam assistance system. The new
system, whereby the car automatically follows the vehicle in front in slow-moving queues
up to 50 km/h, will be ready for production in 2014.
"This technology makes driving more relaxed in the kind of monotonous queuing that is
a less attractive part of daily driving in urban areas. It offers you a safe, effortless
drive in slow traffic," says Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President Research and Development
of Volvo Car Corporation.
The traffic jam assistance function is an evolution of the current Adaptive Cruise
Control and Lane Keeping Aid technology, which was introduced in the all-new Volvo V40
hatchback [http://www.volvocars.com/uk/all-cars/volvo-v40/Pages/default.aspx ] earlier in
2012.
The driver activates the traffic jam assistance function by pushing a button. When
active, the engine, brakes and steering respond automatically. The Adaptive Cruise Control
enables safe, comfortable driving by automatically maintaining a set gap to the vehicle in
front, at the same time as the steering is also controlled.
"The car follows the vehicle in front in the same lane. However, it is always the
driver who is in charge. He or she can take back control of the car at any time," says
Peter Mertens.
Commuting lasts longer than the annual vacation
Slow-moving queues are part of urban commuting. Americans spend more than 100 hours a
year commuting to work, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
This is more than the average two weeks of vacation time (80 hours) many Americans have
per year.
Drivers in major metropolitan areas such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los
Angeles spend even longer times queuing to and from work every day.
"The situation is of course similar, or even worse, in major urban areas all over the
world. Our aim with the traffic jam assistance is to make commuting a bit less stressful
for the driver," says Peter Mertens.
Aiming for leadership
Autonomous driving - with steering, acceleration and/or braking automatically
controlled by a vehicle that requires very little human interaction - is a major focus
area in Volvo Car Corporation's development work.
"Our aim is to gain leadership in the field of autonomous driving by moving beyond
concepts and pioneering technologies that will reach actual customers. Making these
features reliable and easy to use is crucial to boosting customer confidence in
self-driving cars," says Peter Mertens.
The low-speed traffic jam assistance system is the second technology for autonomous
driving recently presented by Volvo Car Corporation. A few weeks ago, the company
demonstrated the SARTRE project (Safe Road Trains for the Environment), which focuses on
platooning in highway and motorway traffic at speeds of up to 90 km/h.
Positive consumer response
Volvo Car Corporation's firm focus on designing cars around people includes
investigating consumer attitudes towards self-driving cars.
In 2011, Volvo Car Corporation invited a number of premium car owners to evaluate
future driver support technologies at the company's test track, including an early traffic
jam assistance prototype. One of the guests commented: "A perfect support for making
commuting less stressful. It will take away the cramps and knee pain that I get when
constantly having to adjust speed and distance in slow-moving queues."
Introduced in 2014
The traffic jam assistance technology will be part of Volvo Car Corporation's new
Scalable Product Architecture, SPA, which will be introduced in 2014.
"SPA is a stand-alone Volvo project that will enable us to take the company's
technological future into our own hands. Most of our volume will be based on this new
architecture. It will give us a high degree of commonality and the right scale of economy
to be competitive in the future," says Peter Mertens.
Volvo
CONTACT: Martin Bayntun, Media Relations Manager, Volvo Car UK Ltd, Phone: +44(0)1628-422268, Mobile: +44(0)7801-808577, martin.bayntun@volvocars.com
Volvo Car Corporation Takes the Strain out of the Daily Commute With a Technology That Automatically Follows the Vehicle in Front
LONDON, October 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
Volvo Car Corporation has taken another step on the journey towards autonomous driving
- self-driving vehicles - by demonstrating a new traffic jam assistance system. The new
system, whereby the car automatically follows the vehicle in front in slow-moving queues
up to 50 km/h, will be ready for production in 2014.
"This technology makes driving more relaxed in the kind of monotonous queuing that is
a less attractive part of daily driving in urban areas. It offers you a safe, effortless
drive in slow traffic," says Peter Mertens, Senior Vice President Research and Development
of Volvo Car Corporation.
The traffic jam assistance function is an evolution of the current Adaptive Cruise
Control and Lane Keeping Aid technology, which was introduced in the all-new Volvo V40
hatchback [http://www.volvocars.com/uk/all-cars/volvo-v40/Pages/default.aspx ] earlier in
2012.
The driver activates the traffic jam assistance function by pushing a button. When
active, the engine, brakes and steering respond automatically. The Adaptive Cruise Control
enables safe, comfortable driving by automatically maintaining a set gap to the vehicle in
front, at the same time as the steering is also controlled.
"The car follows the vehicle in front in the same lane. However, it is always the
driver who is in charge. He or she can take back control of the car at any time," says
Peter Mertens.
Commuting lasts longer than the annual vacation
Slow-moving queues are part of urban commuting. Americans spend more than 100 hours a
year commuting to work, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
This is more than the average two weeks of vacation time (80 hours) many Americans have
per year.
Drivers in major metropolitan areas such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los
Angeles spend even longer times queuing to and from work every day.
"The situation is of course similar, or even worse, in major urban areas all over the
world. Our aim with the traffic jam assistance is to make commuting a bit less stressful
for the driver," says Peter Mertens.
Aiming for leadership
Autonomous driving - with steering, acceleration and/or braking automatically
controlled by a vehicle that requires very little human interaction - is a major focus
area in Volvo Car Corporation's development work.
"Our aim is to gain leadership in the field of autonomous driving by moving beyond
concepts and pioneering technologies that will reach actual customers. Making these
features reliable and easy to use is crucial to boosting customer confidence in
self-driving cars," says Peter Mertens.
The low-speed traffic jam assistance system is the second technology for autonomous
driving recently presented by Volvo Car Corporation. A few weeks ago, the company
demonstrated the SARTRE project (Safe Road Trains for the Environment), which focuses on
platooning in highway and motorway traffic at speeds of up to 90 km/h.
Positive consumer response
Volvo Car Corporation's firm focus on designing cars around people includes
investigating consumer attitudes towards self-driving cars.
In 2011, Volvo Car Corporation invited a number of premium car owners to evaluate
future driver support technologies at the company's test track, including an early traffic
jam assistance prototype. One of the guests commented: "A perfect support for making
commuting less stressful. It will take away the cramps and knee pain that I get when
constantly having to adjust speed and distance in slow-moving queues."
Introduced in 2014
The traffic jam assistance technology will be part of Volvo Car Corporation's new
Scalable Product Architecture, SPA, which will be introduced in 2014.
"SPA is a stand-alone Volvo project that will enable us to take the company's
technological future into our own hands. Most of our volume will be based on this new
architecture. It will give us a high degree of commonality and the right scale of economy
to be competitive in the future," says Peter Mertens.
Volvo
CONTACT: Martin Bayntun, Media Relations Manager, Volvo Car UK Ltd, Phone: +44(0)1628-422268, Mobile: +44(0)7801-808577, martin.bayntun@volvocars.com