Driving a car in winter is one of the most horrific things and the worst nightmare of any driver is the sudden loss of traction. Most possible reason would be the icy patches on the road that ultimately cause accidents and sometimes, Life. For ages, there has never been a way that could warn other cars travelling on the same road about the slippery or unsafe surface until they face it themselves. It always has been considered the most life threatening situation and tremendous efforts has been put to develop any solutions. For the last few years, as the mobile technology flourished and cloud services enabled users to connect to one and other and update their status, Volvo became the first in the industry to use cloud technology to warn other motorists of such hazards.
In the pilot phase, Volvo collaborated with Norwegian Public Roads Administration and Swedish Transport Administration so if any driver faces any kind of skids, the onboard traction sensors will automatically upload the information to the central cloud-based communication system. This information will help the authorities to focus their resources more effectively on the most slippery parts of the road as well as other drivers to be more careful of upcoming hazards. But to get most out of this system, we’ll have to wait till the vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle communication is used in the majority of the vehicles.
The pilot project uses wireless cellular phone networks to relay the information generated by cars’ traction sensors when they detect any slippery patch on the road. This relayed information generates a warning and sends it to other vehicles in the same area to be alert. This system is also capable of analysing the severity of potential danger the road might pose by detecting the speed of the vehicle, thus adjusting warning massage to be sent to the network. To ensure the privacy of the motorists, unique data of the vehicle will not be relayed to others. This shows the commitment of Volvo towards a safer, comfortable and more improved drive experience.
