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Video: Volvo suffers another auto-stop safety system failure in public fashion

Chris Paukert — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sedan, Wagon, Safety, Technology, Videos, Volvo, Australia

Volvo V60 Pedestrian Detection test failures - Click above to watch the videos

Volvo's new Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake is under scrutiny after a series of demonstrations for journalists in Australia went awry in rather spectacular fashion. During the presentation, an inflatable test dummy was mowed down after the system failed to detect its presence in time to stop. This, despite the fact that the technology was showcased under controlled conditions. The optional hardware, which debuts on the 2011 S60 and V60 wagon, utilizes both radar and camera technology to avoid or mitigate an accident with a pedestrian by automatically slowing the vehicle to either a full stop or at least initiating full braking to lower the rate of impact (Volvo: "The system can avoid a collision at speeds up to 22 mph. At higher speeds, the focus is on reducing the car's speed as much as possible prior to the impact").

Volvo officials themselves cautioned... that the system may not always detect the dummy's presence.

According to Aussie motoring website Car Advice, journalists at the demonstration were told by a Volvo spokesperson that the system may have been 'confused' by a tractor-trailer parked around 30 meters behind the dummy, but the subsequent removal of the big rig still saw two more failures resulting in impacts. According to the same report, Volvo noted that "around 650 media participated in the week-long demonstration - with a claimed 99.7 per cent success rate - the nature of the failed 0.3 per cent of runs appears to be undisclosed."

Autoblog had the chance to sample this system firsthand at the Oregon launch of the S60 earlier this month in similar parking lot tests with different dummies. It performed as-advertised for us, though a few other journalists did record failures of their own - though those lapses were evidently at least partially exacerbated by the drivers giving-in to their instinct to tromp on the brake pedal. Interestingly, Volvo officials themselves cautioned us in advance that the system may not always detect the dummy's presence, in part because it doesn't mimic the behavior of a human (the Pedestrian Detection system is trained to look for human movements - arms swaying, legs moving, and so on). In fact, when we asked if the system would also detect and activate when animals are in the road, officials said that the safety feature has not yet been trained to do so - it is only capable of registering bipeds.

As you may recall, this is not the first failure of Volvo's new auto-stop impact avoidance systems. Back in May, we told you about another incident in which an S60's City Safety auto-brake system test resulted in the car plowing into the back of a semi truck. Volvo would apparently later state that the crash was caused by a 'low-voltage event' in the car's electrical system that turned the rear-impact avoidance system off, a flaw that has since been repaired.

Follow the jump to watch videos of the PSD failures as well as an official Volvo video explaining how the system is designed to work.

[Sources: Car Advice, YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Volvo suffers another auto-stop safety system failure in public fashion

Video: Volvo suffers another auto-stop safety system failure in public fashion originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2011 Volvo S60 hands-on demonstration w/video

Dan Roth — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 20:01:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Technology, Volvo

2011 Volvo S60 T5 in action - click above for high-res image gallery

An impact with an automobile will crack a human's bones like lobster claws at a clambake; an outcome Volvo aims to fight with technology. Pedestrian Detection with Full Auto Brake, a system that uses radar and cameras to stop the car and avert mauling pedestrians, makes its debut on the 2011 Volvo S60. While a visit to the recent Wellesley, Massachusetts stop of the Naughty Volvo Tour at Lee Imported Cars didn't net us any wheel time, we got our first chance to get hands-on with the new S60 outside of a convention hall.

Make the jump for the full story.

Gallery: 2011 Volvo S60 demonstration

Continue reading 2011 Volvo S60 hands-on demonstration w/video

2011 Volvo S60 hands-on demonstration w/video originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 18 Jul 2010 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Volvo S60 crashes during safety demonstration with cameras rolling

Sam Abuelsamid — Fri, 07 May 2010 12:31:00 EST

Filed under: Safety, Technology, Volvo

Click above to watch video after the jump

Safety is expected when you're Volvo, and when something goes wrong it's particularly embarrassing. Such was the case this week when media were invited to a demonstration of one of Volvo's latest latest safety technologies. The collision warning system on the S60 is supposed to detect an impending impacts and then autonomously apply the brakes to bring the vehicle to a halt, like this. Except it didn't!

The S60 was launched at 30 mph toward the back of a parked truck and the crowd watched as it rolled straight into it without ever braking. Volvo representatives later claimed human error in the preparation of the vehicle for the test. On the plus side, the car showed no apparent damage to the passenger compartment, again demonstrating that, even if a Volvo does crash, it will protect its occupants. In the meantime, we'll just to go back to being active participants in the driving process. Check out the video after the jump. Hats off to all the tipsters!

[Source: Wired, YouTube]

Continue reading Volvo S60 crashes during safety demonstration with cameras rolling

Volvo S60 crashes during safety demonstration with cameras rolling originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 07 May 2010 12:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Volvo looks to locusts to prevent accidents

Chris Tutor — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:01:00 EST

Filed under: Safety, Technology, Volvo

If you think your morning commute looks (and feels) like a bunch of insects randomly swarming toward a multitude of random destinations, you'd be mostly right. But only mostly. Research by the Insect Vision Laboratory shows that like your fellow rush-hour drivers, swarming African locusts are busy calculating the position, direction and speed of the other travelers around them. Unlike all those other drivers, African locusts never run into each other. We'd be willing to argue that's definitive proof most drivers are dumber than common insects.

Volvo, however, sees more than just the obvious. Instead, they see a possible way to keep all those clueless drivers safe by studying just how those locusts are able to avoid collisions.

But there's a lot of work to do before the automaker can put nature to work on the streets. The researchers theorize that the bugs can easily miss hitting each other because they're somehow able to send information straight from their sensory organs to their wings, completely bypassing their simplistic brains. That ability to instantly translate data into action keeps the locusts crash free. The problem is that currently automotive technology can't match the locusts' data-processing talents. So for at least the immediate future, have a little sympathy for those other guys out there. They actually are less intelligent than the bugs stuck in your grille.

[Source: Wired]

Volvo looks to locusts to prevent accidents originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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