Accidents between bikes and vehicles can often lead to serious injury or death, and Volvo is working to avoid these types of accidents with the help of active safety technologies.
Cyclist detection with full auto brake uses the car’s cameras and radars to detect cyclists, warn the driver of an imminent collision and apply the brakes if further action is needed. It is a development of Volvo Cars’ automatic emergency braking and pedestrian-detection systems, in line with its safety vision.
The Volvo-POC research project consists of a number of specially designed crash tests at the famous Volvo safety research facilities here, and is part of a wider research project to understand the types of long-term injuries sustained by cyclists.
During these tests, POC bike helmets are worn by crash dummy heads mounted on a testing rig, from where they are launched towards different areas of the bonnet of a static Volvo car, at different speeds and angles for various measurements.
The tests are based on existing regulatory test procedures for pedestrian head protection. This allows Volvo and POC to make a direct comparison between wearing a helmet and not wearing a helmet.
Current bike helmet testing procedures are fairly rudimentary, involving helmets being dropped from different heights on either a flat or an angled surface, and do not take into account vehicle to bike accidents. The Volvo-POC project aims to further refine and advance such testing.
The learnings from the research project will help POC make its helmets safer and more protective in the event of a car-bike accident, while the tests will also provide valuable insights and learnings for Volvo into these types of accidents for future development.
In recent years, Volvo Cars has focused on also protecting people outside its cars. For example, Volvo launched its pedestrian detection with full autobrake in 2010 and cyclist detection with full auto brake in 2013. Both technologies come as standard in all Volvo cars as part of the City Safety package and have helped to improve overall traffic safety.
In an earlier collaboration, Volvo Cars and POC worked on a pilot to connect bike helmets with cars in order to help avoid accidents.
