Volvo announced in 2014 its vision for zero deaths or serious injuries in its vehicles by 2020, but this continues to happen – and the company has blamed impaired drivers.
The company’s next step in its vision, besides building structured vehicle safety, is to combat drunk drivers by using in-car cameras that can use AI to determine whether a driver is distracted or under the influence.
Using this data, the vehicle can then prevent the driver from taking control of the vehicle, for their safety as well as that of other road users.
Volvo’s research shows that crashes tend to happen in a way that makes occupant protection a repetitive and logical process.
Throw intoxication into the mix and not only do accidents tend to occur in ways that would not have happened with a sober driver, but the risk to other drivers increases dramatically due to the lack of logical reaction to the incident leading to the accident.
“For the most part now we see the bigger gap we have as drunk driving, and speeding,” said Thomas Broberg, senior technical advisor at the Volvo Car Safety Center.
“Typically if you look at deaths in most statistical databases around the world, if you look at the government agenda, in most countries, it’s drunk, driving under the influence and speeding at the same time and wearing your seat belt.
“And unfortunately, not only can you hurt yourself, but usually that includes other people who are innocent in that perspective.
“And then, of course, we have a shared responsibility with the authorities, because they are violators of the traffic system. But at the same time, we have to see what we can do to try… because it’s a big gap.
“I think it is [also] to understand our diversity as drivers. We all have different skills. We have different experiences. I mean, you have everything from new drivers on the one hand, to old drivers, on the other hand, with a lot of experience, but maybe starting to lack some capabilities such as vision being one, but also reaction time etc. and that’s actually my research area which was conducted.”
It’s safe to say that Volvo has its work cut out for it, although it’s not an issue exclusive to the brand.
Mr. Broberg told Car Expert that even if Volvo misses that target, zero deaths and serious injuries is the ethos the brand adheres to and defends.
“We have no regrets at all. I mean, it’s really in line with our philosophy and our heritage, I would say we put people first. And to me, you can’t have different thoughts,” he said.
“I think it’s good to raise awareness, but more importantly, for us working in the company, it’s important in the sense that we have to lift every stone to understand what we need to do and everyone is aligned with that. .
“We will not have time to argue about what is and what is not. I don’t think we would be where we are today if we didn’t have that mindset.”