Safer Blind-side Turns With Volvo Trucks

City junctions are dangerous places with traffic of all types jostling for space. In Europe, between 30 and 60 per cent of all accidents resulting in injuries occur at intersections. Intersafe 2 - which is an EU-funded project - aims at developing and demonstrating a Cooperative Intersection Safety System (CISS) that is able to improve traffic safety at road junctions by as much as 80 per cent. As a partner in the project, Volvo has focused on the truck driver’s blind spot on the passenger side.

“Above all, it is changes on the passenger side of the truck that the driver does not see. Pedestrians and cyclists, in particular, are really in danger here. This system alerts the driver about their movements on the right of the vehicle,” says Malte Ahrholdt, Project Manager at Volvo Technology.

Together with his colleagues, he has developed a system that aims at solving the problem of the driver’s blind spot. By fitting laser scanners and ultrasonic sensors that monitor the area on the right of the vehicle, the system can detect and warn the driver when a cyclist or pedestrian gets too close.

“As long as there is a need for transporting goods in cities, there will be trucks on the streets. Volvo Trucks is working on all fronts to improve safety – with enhanced information and advanced technology such as the existing reversing cameras and Lane Change Support.” says Carl Johan Almqvist, Traffic and Product Safety Director at Volvo Trucks. “Even so, there are other things we can do to improve the situation still further, and the blind-side turn has been identified as a particularly relevant safety issue.”

As Intersafe 2 is a research and development project, the outcome will not lead directly to a solution for series production, but it does show how critical traffic situations can be tackled with intelligent technical innovations.