Volvo Car has revealed first details of the platform which will underpin its
next-generation mid-sized and large cars and allow the integration of its
latest safety technology.
Scaleable
Product Architecture (SPA) will appear for the first time on the next XC90 SUV
at the end of 2014, but will be used also for the replacement 60 and 70 series
models.
It allows petrol, diesel,
hybrid and all-electric powertrains to be mounted identically in a fixed
location, leaving engineers with flexibility in the shape and size of the rest
of the car.
Along with a small-car
platform being developed with the owner, Geely of China, it will form the basis
of a complete range of new Volvos.
SPA also makes it possible
for Volvo to introduce its latest safety ideas. Four new safety technologies
will be available on the next XC90 as part of Volvo's aim to ensure that no-one
can be killed or seriously injured in one of its cars after 2020.
The XC90 will be able to
detect and avoid pedestrians at night, slow down when large animals step into
its path, prevent the driver from drifting off the road or hitting a barrier
and adapt its speed - and the steering - to maintain its position in dense traffic.
Car-to-car communication will be added by 2016.
The new systems advance
those that Volvo has been introducing to avoid low-speed collisions or contact
with pedestrians and cyclists since 2006. They have been made possible by a new
highly sensitive camera with advanced exposure control, and new radar support.
As a result of these, the
night-time pedestrian detection system adds autonomous braking from dusk to dawn,
something which was not previously possible, minimising and possibly
eradicating the risk of hitting a pedestrian who steps out from the shadows.
The animal detection system
is seen as a major breakthrough for northern countries such as Sweden, Russia
and Canada, where collisions with moose and elk at country-road speeds are
quite common and often fatal.
It cannot prevent accidents
because of the unpredictablity of animal behaviour, but reduces the Volvo's
speed to a level where the occupants have a good chance of avoiding injury.
Around a third of
fatalities are the result of cars simply leaving the road through tiredness or
lack of concentration by the driver. Volvo's road edge and barrier detection
system spots when this is about to happen and, like the active lane departure
and blind spot warning systems already available, brakes the car on one side to
bring it back on course.
When car-to-car
communication becomes available in 2016, it will advise the driver of the best
speed to maintain to avoid red traffic lights, issue alerts when emergency
vehicles are approaching and use information from cars ahead to warn of
impending dangerous road conditions. ∎
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