Volvo V40 watches the road with camera, radar, laser

DETROIT—Volvo’s booth at the North American International Auto Show features a café serving coffee, tea, and ginger cookies. For a few minutes, I can kind of pretend I’m Swedish. And then I can check out the safety features on Volvo’s new V40 sedan, which center around a triad of camera, laser and radar equipment built into the windshield of the car.

A camera, laser, and radar built into the Volvo V40’s windshield look out for you while you drive.

These devices work with a lot of different safety features designed to watch out for potential road and traffic hazards. While alerting the driver is usually the primary goal, some of these features—braking the car, say—will act if the driver does not respond to the alert.
In the case of Pedestrian Detection, for instance, the V40 detects a pedestrian and sounds an alert to the driver; it also flashes a light in the heads-up display that projects onto the windshield. The system applies the brakes as the last resort.
Should the V40 actually hit a pedestrian, Volvo’s Pedestrian Airbag Technology is an external airbag that pops out from the back of the hood and wraps over the lower parts of the car’s front pillars (A-pillars) and windshield. The hood is also raised in back as a result. The raised hood and the airbag padding help moderate the impact for the pedestrian, with the hope of avoiding or minimizing injury.

Volvo built an airbag into the hood of the V40 to minimize injury if a pedestrian is hit.

In a densely populated urban environment, City Safety also kicks in. Operating at speeds up to about 31 mph, City Safety monitors the distances between you and surrounding cars to help prevent fender-benders. As with Pedestrian Detection, the car will hit the brakes if it’s getting too close to a vehicle in front of it.

In a dense urban environment, the Volvo V40 watches for people and also nearby cars.

A number of other systems come into play when you’re on the highway. Some examples include Adaptive Cruise Control, which will slow down if it detects stopped traffic ahead. The Lane Keeping Aid watches the lines on the road and alerts you if you stray. Road Sign Information looks ahead at road signs and shows upcoming ones on the instrument display. My favorite highway feature, though, is the Blind Spot Information System, which watches the back corners around the car to make sure I’m aware of a motorcyclist or a fast-passing car.

On the highway, Volvo’s sensors track road signs, nearby vehicles, and whether you’re driving straight.

While some drivers might feel a little embarrassed to use it at first, Volvo’s Park Assist Pilot and others of its ilk can make a difference, especially in urban areas where squeezing a car into an available space can test the limits of physics. The Park Assist Pilot uses ultrasonic sensors places on all four sides of the car. It gauges the length of the space to confirm whether you can get into it (no more heated debates with yourself, or with anxious, impatient passengers); the Park Assist Pilot then handles the steering part, while you take care of the transmission and accelerator.

Ultrasonic sensors help you park your car better in tight urban spots.

All of these safety functions aim to make driving less dangerous and stressful, which is great. What I was curious about was whether the front camera could be used to stream video to some sort of recording device, so you could record your drive—and have some evidence handy in case someone clips you on the causeway. Volvo said it did not have this feature in mind at the moment. Here’s one person waiting for it.

Tech tunes?

Volvo V40 watches the road with camera, radar, laser