Volvo’s European models to warn each other of hazards

Slippery Road Alert demonstration on a Volvo V60

Volvo Cars is introducing connected safety technologies to its vehicles in Europe.

As the evolution of the connected car continues to grow, the technology from Volvo will allow its vehicles to communicate with each other and alert drivers of slippery road conditions and hazards through its cloud-based network.

Features like ‘hazard light alert’ and ‘slippery road alert’ were first seen in 2016 in Sweden and Norway on Volvo’s 90 Series cars. Those features will be made available in late April across all of Europe and are standard on all 2020 model year vehicles. Selected older Volvos can be retrofitted with the alerts.

“Sharing real-time safety data between cars can help avoid accidents,” said Malin Ekholm, head of Volvo Cars Safety Centre. “Volvo owners directly contribute to making roads safer for other drivers that enable the feature, while they also benefit from early warnings to potentially dangerous conditions ahead.”

This technology shows some of the benefits of connected car technology. Alerting drivers to dangers ahead allows them to adapt and reduce the risk of collisions and enhance traffic safety.

When the hazard light is turned on, an alert is sent through a signal to all nearby Volvo vehicles connected to the cloud service. When the ‘slippery road alert’ is activated, the vehicle collects road surface information and warns drivers in both directions that are approaching the potentially unsafe area.

Volvo used the announcement to also invite the automotive industry to join in sharing anonymized data related to traffic safety across all car brands. By sharing data, road safety can be enhanced, the company said.

“The more vehicles we have sharing safety data in real time, the safer our roads become. We hope to establish more collaborations with partners who share our commitment to safety,” said Ekholm.