Volvo Personvagnar AB, in collaboration with sports gear maker POC Sweden AB and
Telefonaktiebolaget L. M. Ericsson have announced a new connected safety technology that connects drivers and cyclists.

The technology, to be formally unveiled at CES Las Vegas in January, consists of a connected car and helmet (via mobile phone) system that establishes 2-way communication offering proximity alerts to Volvo car drivers and cyclists to assist in avoiding accidents.

Volvo claims that no car manufacturer has previously put a stake in the ground to help address the problem by using connected safety technology – until now.

The system works through popular smartphone apps for cyclists, with the cyclist’s position being shared through the Volvo Cars cloud to the car, and vice versa. The system monitors the proximity of both parties and if an imminent collision is calculated, both car driver and cyclists are warned – in theory preventing an accident.

In the car the driver is alerted by a head-up display alert, and works even if the cyclist is in a blind spot, while the cyclist is warned via a helmet-mounted alert light connected by bluetooth to the cyclist’s phone.

“The partnership between Volvo Cars, POC and Ericsson is an important milestone in investigating the next steps towards Volvo Car’s vision to build cars that will not crash” Volvo VP and Group CIO Klas Bendrik said in a statement. “By exploring cloud-based safety systems, we are now getting ever closer to eliminating the remaining blind spots between cars and cyclists and by that avoid collisions.”

Per Borgklint of Ericcson added “our work with Volvo Cars to explore the connected society, protecting the millions of cyclists on the road is just the latest example of innovation that can change the world.”

As cycling continues to undergo a renaissance in popularity in Western countries, car/ bike traffic accidents are becoming increasingly more common. Nearly 50,000 cyclist fatalities and injuries occur in the United States every year.

The system proposed by Volvo isn’t going to cut all dangers out (presuming widespread adoption) but it would certainly assist in reducing the dangers on the road.

Image credits: Volvo Personvagnar AB