Volvo Technology Protects Cyclists
Oh. My. God. The world…it redeems itself sometimes. Volvo is installing a “cyclist detection facility” in 7 out of 11 of it’s vehicles that will be able to detect a bicycle abruptly entering its path of travel, at which point the brakes will automatically and fully deploy. They released a similar system for pedestrians in its 2010 vehicles, and they are working on a horse detection system as well. I can’t even tell you how excited this makes me.
This is either a practical trickle down technological advancement from the Google automatic cars that also immediately stop for sudden obstacles or Volvo is just thinking properly. Whatever the reason, let’s hope this becomes standard for EVERY vehicle manufacturer. An initial question I have is if this braking mechanism activates while coming up upon a cyclist from behind, say if the driver was texting and started to veer into a cyclist, which happens to be my greatest fear.
Read the full article here.
RogerMarch 10, 2013 at 5:10 pm
Could something like this also be applied to keep from being doorded? Perhaps blink the tail lights when the door is opening?