The connected car technology of Swedish car manufacturer Volvo has found a new use after the motor giant revealed that their cars will swap information on the road conditions ahead or behind them.
While some Volvo drivers have had the ability to tap in to Hazard Light Alert and Slippery Road Alert for a few years, the features will be rolled out across the Volvo fleet later in April.
Hazard Light Alert will send a warning signal to all approaching Volvo cars on the connected network, which is accessed through a cloud-based network. By communicating with other Volvo cars they can be warned about a car with hazard lights turned on, which is useful when the driving conditions may not be the best.
Similar technology is employed on Slippery Road Alert which warns other Volvo drivers on current road conditions and warning others about potential slippery road sections.
“Sharing real-time safety data between cars can help avoid accidents,” said Malin Ekholm, Head of the Volvo Cars Safety Centre. “Volvo owners directly contribute to making roads safer for other drivers that enable the feature, while they also benefit from early warnings to potentially dangerous conditions ahead.
“The more vehicles we have sharing safety data in real time, the safer our roads become. We hope to establish more collaborations with partners who share our commitment to safety.”
Community-based road information sharing has been used previously on road map apps such as Waze, which allowed users to warn drivers about potential incidents, speed cameras and even stationary traffic police cars.