❱❱ Volvo hopes that communicating hazard light condition to other vehicles beyond the horizon can prevent serious rear end collisions, left; generalised vehicle-to-vehicle and infrastructure communications bring sensor-based awareness to drivers as well as potentially to autonomous control systems, below left; connectivity between vehicles and cloud services offers one approach to achieving automatic vehicle-to-vehicle communications, below


SAFETY IN THE CLOUD


When the hazard warning lights are switched on, the vehicle sends a signal via the driver’s Internet-connected mobile phone to Volvo Truck’s cloud service. From there, the information is


forwarded to the corresponding service at Volvo Cars. An alert is then transmitted to all connected cars and trucks approaching the location of the vehicle whose hazard lights have been activated. Connected safety is applicable to the


Volvo FH16, FH, FM and Volvo FMX vehicles equipped with Volvo Trucks’ integrated system for services and infotainment,


depending on the truck’s specification and choice of services. Additional accident-prevention safety


systems for Volvo trucks include adaptive cruise control for helping the driver maintain a pre-set time gap to the vehicle in front; collision warning with emergency braking designed to alert the driver to the risk of a collision with the vehicle in front and to activate the brakes if necessary, and driver alert support to tell the driver to stop for a break if the system identifies signs of inattentiveness.


ANONYMISING DATA By anonymising, validating and aggregating the data that is collected and shared, the initiative will comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that is rolled out across the EU this year. According to Carl Johan Almqvist, traffic


and product safety director at Volvo Trucks, expanded cooperation between different players is one of the most important keys to improved road safety. He says: “If more vehicles are able to exchange real time information about the traffic situation, it will lower the risk of accidents. With connected safety we are opening the door to the future, with the hope that more vehicle manufacturers will join in.” According to Almqvist, stationary vehicles


by the roadside in poor visibility risk being hit from the rear, which can have severe consequences. An alert issued in advance gives all drivers of nearby cars and trucks the same opportunity to adjust their driving to the traffic situation and avoid a collision. In the longer term, the cloud-based


service can be expanded with additional safety-enhancing functions. Emanuele Piga, director customer


solutions & new services development at Volvo Trucks, says: “As the technology undergoes further refinement and more


vehicles are linked to the system, real time information will become an important complement to the various intelligent safety and driver support systems found in our trucks today. Connected safety marks the start of a new phase in our ongoing drive to promote safe driving and prevent accidents.”


WIDER SENSOR-BASED NETWORKS The creation of such proprietary networks is the starting point for wider systems involving data sharing for common benefit. An example that already exists is the pan- European eCall emergency call system that automatically detects an event, such as air bag deployment or acceleration above a certain threshold within a vehicle to alert emergency services with information about location and event characteristics. With improved vehicle-to-vehicle and


vehicle-to-infrastructure communications facilitated by low latency 5G networks, the potential to connect both roadside and in- vehicle sensors to the cloud and each other becomes enormous. In this way, non- proprietary networks become possible to alert drivers en masse of such hazards as obstacles (collisions or stranded vehicles), road conditions (black ice, patchy fog) or even traffic signal status beyond the line of sight. It’s also possible to alert drivers to


potential dangers by recognising vehicles approaching from blind junctions, cyclists beyond the apex of a blind bend and approaching vehicles on the wrong side of the road, for example.


PRECURSOR TO AUTONOMY Apart from the safety benefits of connecting sensors over local traffic networks, there is also the benefit for enabling safe autonomous motoring. As a set of logical eyes, the sensors provide vital information to autonomous control systems to enable them to go some way towards making the kind of decisions that would normally be classified as human judgement and therefore beyond the capabilities of AI-based systems. A great deal of testing and verification will


be needed before reaching the stage of using distributed sensors for autonomous control but work is already under way at the major European automotive engineering and test centres to assess the viability of the technology and to aid manufacturers with simulation and proving ground resources. With its first step into automated vehicle-


to-vehicle communications, Volvo is demonstrating its approach to safer motoring that has defined the company’s ethos for the past half century and promises to continue into the next era of motoring. EE


June 2018 /// Environmental Engineering /// 39


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