All Jennifer Lawrence jokes aside, this is one very useful way of getting the “Cloud” to work in your favor.
Volvo is working along side the Swedish Transport Administration as well as the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, on a project that will enable cars to share information about tricky road conditions such as icy patches.
The information will be shared via a cloud-based network, which represents a revolutionary approach to improving traffic safety. The official test fleet has grown from 50 cars to no fewer than 1,000 – which is proof that the project is moving along rapidly.
The goal is to make this technology available to the customers within “a few years’ time” says Volvo, which means that by 2020 it should be safely implemented.
“The more information that can be shared on the road, the fewer surprises there are. And when you’re driving, surprises are what you most want to avoid,” says Erik Israelsson, Project Leader Cooperative ITS (Intelligent Transport System) at Volvo Cars.
“In light of that, we’ve developed a slippery-road alert, which notifies drivers about icy patches and contributes to making winter road maintenance more efficient. We’re also adding a hazard-light alert, which will tell drivers if another vehicle in the area has its hazard lights on. With these first two features, we have a great platform for developing additional safety features. This is just the beginning,” added Israelsson.
Volvo Cars will also broaden the test area to include two large cities (Gothenburg and Oslo) – which will help them paint a more complete picture of how the system works in real winter urban traffic conditions.
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