Smartening Up the Safety Belt: Volvo's Intelligent Safety Belts Revolutionize Protection
Volvo invents a smart seatbelt for enhanced safety.
The three-point seat belt revolutionized safety on the roads, saving countless lives. Now, Volvo's Swedish developers are pushing the envelope with cutting-edge sensors, cameras, and machine learning algorithms, preparing to transform the traditional seat belt into a sophisticated lifesaver.
Paramedic Benny from Lake Ammer has first-hand experience with the consequences of accidents and the importance of seat belts. Though airbags and assistance systems already lessen the impact of severe crashes, Benny questions the brutality of the seat belt, which can cause injuries itself. Volvo's safety experts propose a different approach.
The Swedish company is developing a "multi-adaptive safety belt," a smart, customizable belt that can react differently to various occupants and traffic situations. By integrating the feature into the vehicle's central computer, it can access real-time data from various sensors to provide individualized belt force and retention performance.
Fractured ribs in petite women or head and neck injuries in tall passengers are common complications during crashes. Volvo's smart belt adjusts its force to the occupant's size, weight, body shape, and seating position, as well as the crash situation. In the upcoming fully electric EX60, Volvo increases the number of adaptable force-limiting profiles significantly compared to previous models.[1]
Volvo's digital advancements in safety extend beyond the seat belt. The increasing network of cameras, radar, and LiDAR forms a protective digital cocoon around the vehicle, alerting to potential hazards and optimizing self-driving capabilities.
Data, Volvo believes, will be the center of safety features in the coming years. With over 43,000 real-world accident analyses since the 1970s, Volvo has a unique understanding of safety issues and implements these insights into their safety solutions.[2]
For instance, the Volvo EX90 introduces the innovative "Safe Space Technology," allowing the powerful central computer to process real-time information from cameras, radar, and lidar. Sensors can detect hazards like other vehicles, pedestrians, or cyclists, even in challenging lighting conditions up to 250 meters away. Artificial intelligence simulates potential dangerous scenarios, preparing the vehicle for unexpected hazards.[3]
In addition, Volvo's driver understanding system continually monitors the interior to detect if the driver is distracted, drowsy, or no longer attentive. If necessary, it takes over responsibility, applying the brakes smoothly, bringing the vehicle to a stop, and alerting emergency services.[4]
With authorities, insurers, and service providers taking interest in the power and predictability of connected safety data, automotive safety technology is expected to grow rapidly. The EX90, for example, offers eight times faster computing power than previous models, enabling more advanced and responsive safety systems.[5]
Sources: ntv.de, Peter Weißenberg, sp-x
- Volvo Models
- Road Traffic
Enrichment Data:
Overall:Volvo's intelligent safety belt, introduced as part of the upcoming Volvo EX60 model, represents a significant advancement in vehicle safety technology. The multi-adaptive safety belt adapts its load profile based on real-time data from the vehicle’s sensors, optimizing protection based on both the occupant and the crash.
Key Features:
- Occupant Adaptation: The belt adjusts based on occupants' size and weight, protecting larger individuals better in severe crashes and minimizing injury for smaller occupants in mild crashes.[2][3]
- Crash Severity Adaptation: The system can adjust its load setting for more effective protection in crashes of varying severity.[3][4]
- Sensor Technology: Advanced sensors inside and outside the vehicle provide data to help the system assess crash and occupant conditions, allowing for quick adjustments to protect occupants.[1][3]
- Over-the-Air Updates: The belt's performance will continually improve through software updates, incorporating data from real-world accidents and safety testing to improve responses.[2][5]
- The multi-adaptive safety belt in Volvo's upcoming EX60 model, a significant advancement in vehicle safety technology, adapts to occupants based on real-time data from the vehicle's sensors, providing enhanced protection by considering both the occupant and the crash severity.
- Volvo's ongoing commitment to technology extends beyond seat belts, as demonstrated by the "Safe Space Technology" in the Volvo EX90, which processes real-time information from cameras, radar, and lidar to identify potential hazards in challenging lighting conditions, and incorporates AI to prepare the vehicle for unexpected scenarios, ultimately enhancing overall health-and-wellness and safety of occupants.
