Vehicle Platooning Could be the Future of Commuting [with Video]

Imagine safely enjoying your morning coffee and reading the newspaper behind the steering wheel, while your car is traveling at highway speeds. Well, this could be a reality in as little as ten years time, thanks (or no thanks...) to the European Union-funded SARTRE (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) project, which successfully tested the concept of vehicle platooning at the Volvo Proving Ground close to Gothenburg, Sweden.

The idea was to create intelligent convoys of vehicles with a professional driver in the lead vehicle leading the rest of the cars. Each car measures distance, speed and direction and adjusts to the car in front, while being totally detached. Vehicles can leave the platoon at any time, but once in, drivers can relax and do other things, without having to worry about actually driving their cars.

Tests carried out involved a lead vehicle and single car that was able to steer itself as it was trailing the lead truck around the test track.

According to SARTRE, platooning is designed to improve a number of things, such as road safety and fuel consumption. It also allows drivers to concentrate on other matters than driving and, since vehicles in a platoon travel just a few meters apart, it may relieve traffic congestion.

The program is lead by Ricardo UK with other six companies contributing, including Volvo Car Corporation. The technology development is said to be well underway and could go into production in a few years. However, public acceptance and legislation issues will prolong the process, thus the announced 10-year timeframe.

“We are very pleased to see that the various systems work so well together already the first time”, said Erik Coelingh, engineering specialist at Volvo Cars. “After all, the systems come from seven SARTRE-member companies in four countries. The winter weather provided some extra testing of cameras and communication equipment”.

“This is a major milestone for this important European research program”, said Tom Robinson, SARTRE project coordinator, of Ricardo UK. “Platooning offers the prospect of improved road safety, better road space utilization, improved driver comfort on long journeys and reduced fuel consumption and hence CO2 emissions. With the combined skills of its participating companies, SARTRE is making tangible progress towards the realization of safe and effective road train technology”.

For a more in-depth look at the SARTRE project check out the video below.

By Csaba Daradics

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FAIL No2: Volvo V60 Safety System Flub Ends with a Dead Dummy Named Bob

This is officially the second safety system demonstration in as many "Look at this!" announcements that has gone horribly wrong for Volvo. That's right, two. The first one was back in May and led to a new S60 estate crushing itself into the back of a truck - see the video here. This latest mishap occurred during a media demonstration to Australian journalists in Europe.

Now that the known-as-safe Volvo brand is officially owned by the Chinese, is this a sign of things to come?

The mechanism in question is part of Volvo's pedestrian avoidance technology, which makes use of cameras and radar in the nose of the vehicle to control the brakes and stability control system in order to reduce driver/pedestrian injuries. The object that the system was meant to detect was Bob the Dummy; as you can see in the vids below, it didn't detect a damn thing.

That's not to say the system is terrible; after all is said and done, it worked 75% of the time. Of the twelve runs, only one ended with Bob getting the full force of the Volvo unleashed on him, with the other two still being less than perfect. Some of the blame has been placed on a camera that doesn't work well in low-light conditions (infrared / night vision, guys?).

Volvo's Jonas Tisell, Active Safety Systems manager, told journalists, "The failure of the test was due to the dummy not being set up properly, therefore it did not give an echo enough for the system. So the dummy was not relevant in this situation." So...blame it on the dummy? And "not relevant"? How does being to blame (according to Volvo) translate as irrelevant?

More like Volvo just got caught with its pants down...again.

By Phil Alex

Via: Drive and Autoblog.com

Volvo Preparing "Naughty" S60 for Geneva Show

Once a maker of some of the most boring to drive and mundane-looking bricks on wheels cars in the industry, Volvo has managed to turn up some pretty interesting proposals over the past few years - no thanks to FoMoCo's involvement.

Their latest and most likely last vehicle to be developed under the "loving" arms of Ford before the Swedish company falls into the hands of China's Geely Motors, is the all-new Volvo S60 sedan that will premiere at the Geneva Salon on March 2.

That we already knew. What we didn't know is that Volvo may surprise us with a sporty version(s) of the S60 as this blurred teaser image and a series of videos titled "Naught Volvos Are Coming" suggest.

Could it be that the Swedes are preparing the return of the 'R' series with a hotted up version of the 2011 S60 sedan?

That we'll have to wait until the opening of the Geneva Motor Show to find out, but we wouldn't be surprised if all this "naughty" promo-talk ends up being just another aero package of the same kind as Audi's S-Line or BMW's M Sport Packs.

Hat tip to 'Coco' for the photo and tip!

Video Galore: The New Volvo S60 Sedan Filmed In, Out and on the Road

Together with a full set of images and detailed specs, Volvo also published several video clips of the all-new 2011 S60 sedan including a short promotional film, driving footage, beauty shots and even one that shows the car slamming into a wall during the safety tests.

The new Swedish mid size sedan with the refreshing styling will have its formal debut at the Geneva Salon next month and go on sale this summer.

At launch, the 2011 S60 will offer a menu of two petrol and two diesel engines (depending on the market) including a new 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline unit with 203HP. Watch the videos after the break.

2011 Volvo S60: New Video Gives us a Complete View of Swedish Sedan

Following the release of the first teaser photos of the all-new 2011 S60 back in November, Volvo has now published a new video that gives us a full view of its small executive sedan that will make its world premiere at the Geneva Salon in March 2010. Closely based on the concept model that appeared at the 2009 Detroit Show, the new S60 is squarely aimed at the Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3-Series.

Volvo, which will soon pass on to the hands of China's Geely Motors, has released very little information on the car but the company did say that the new S60 will be more driver orientated that its predecessor.

While it is not clear yet how the sale will affect the S60's engine range, it is believed that Ford's new EcoBoost 1.6-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine featuring turbocharging, direct injection and outputs ranging from 150 to 180 horsepower will be amongst the offerings.

Via: Autoblog.com

VIDEO: Swedes Test Drive 2011 Volvo S60 Sedan Prototype with Automatic Braking System

The next-generation Volvo S60, which is based on the 2009 Detroit Show concept, won't be launched onto the market until summer of 2010, but the folks over at Sweden's Teknikensvarld magazine were invited by Volvo to Copenhagen, Denmark to check out a prototype version fitted with firm's new "Automatic Braking System". As you may have already guessed, the test vehicle was slathered in cladding, so don't expect to get a preview of the car.

What we do get to see are some details of the interior and of course, a taste of the "Automatic Braking System" - Volvo's next generation of preventive safety technology that detects pedestrians who have walked into the roadway and automatically avoid collisions at speeds under 25 km/h (16mph) if the driver does not react in time.

Once the system detects the pedestrians, it warns the driver through a series of audio and visual alerts on the windscreen's head-up display. Volvo says that if the driver does not respond to the warnings and the system assesses that a collision is about to happen, then it automatically applies the car's brakes with full braking power.

Hat tip to Bobby from Bilfeber! Source: Teknikensvarld

VIDEO: Volvo S60 Four-Door Coupe Concept First Drive

In about a year's time, Swedish automaker Volvo will perform the market launch of the all new S60 premium sedan that will be heavily based on the stylish S60 Concept that made its global debut at the Detroit Show this past January. We've already seen static footage of the four-door coupe design study but now Sweden's Teknikens Varld magazine took the one-off concept car for a quick spin. Unfortunately, Google has yet to find a way to automatically translate audio from videos, so unless you happen to hook up with a bilingual Swedish gal, you're better off lowering the volume in order to enjoy to the ride.

Via: Teknikens

Video: Volvo S60 Sport Sedan Concept

One of the most exciting concept cars at the 2009 Detroit auto show which runs for two weeks from January 11, is the Volvo S60 Concept that provides a preview of the production model that will follow in 2010. If you hit the jump you can see the first official video of the compact sports sedan that includes the usual exterior shots as well as a short film of the S60's innovative crystal centre stack being created at Swedish glassworks Orrefors' workshop. For more details and high-resolution pictures of the Volvo S60 sport sedan concept click here to view our previous post.

Geneva Video: Volvo XC60 Compact SUV

Eyeing the successful BMW X3 compact SUV, Volvo’s stylish XC60 (click here) will go on sale in Europe during the second half of 2008, while sales in North America getting under way in early 2009. The XC90’s baby brother, will initially be available with the six-cylinder turbocharged T6 engine producing 285 Hp and two five-cylinder turbodiesels: the D5 producing 185 and the 2.4D with 163 Hp. All Wheel Drive (AWD) with Instant Traction is fitted as standard on all variants. –Video after the jump

Video: 2009 Volvo XC60 Compact SUV

Revealed ahead of the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, the XC60 is Volvo’s first offering in the compact SUV/Crossover category and it will compete against the likes of the BMW X3.The XC60 is equipped standard with All Wheel Drive (AWD) and is being launched with a choice of three engines, a turbocharged 6-cylinder 3.0-liter petrol unit with 285 HP and two variants of the D5 turbodiesel. Check out the official images and details in our previous post here. For the video, follow the jump. -Continued