Statistics are frightening: 50 percent of all cyclists killed in European traffic have collided with a car, while the States see nearly 50,000 cyclist fatalities and injuries each year.
Volvo Cars wants to do something about that and has teamed up with protective gravity sports gear manufacturer POC and Ericsson to try to end crashes between cars and bikes. In order to achieve that, the three companies have developed a wearable cycling tech concept which will be revealed at International CES 2015 in Las Vegas (January 6-9).
The safety technology consists of a connected car and helmet prototype that will establish 2-way communication between Volvo drivers and cyclists and thereby avoid accidents. The system will offer proximity alerts to both parties.
Volvo Cars’ City Safety system, a standard feature on the all-new XC90, already can detect, warn and auto-brake to avoid collisions with cyclists. This technology has paved the way for the helmet technology concept, presented at the International CES 2015.
So how does it work? The cyclist’s position can be shared through the Volvo cloud to the car, and vice versa, using a popular smartphone app for bicyclists, like Strava. If an imminent collision is calculated, both road users will be warned – and enabled to take the necessary action to avoid a potential accident.
The Volvo driver will be alerted to a cyclist nearby through a head-up display alert – even if he happens to be in a blind spot, such as behind a bend or another vehicle or hardly visible during night time. The cyclist will also be warned via a helmet-mounted alert light. You can see how the technology works in the video posted below.
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