Sharing traffic data, the proposal by Volvo to improve road safety

The president and CEO of Volvo Cars, Håkan Samuelsson, stressed the importance of governments and car manufacturers joining forces to share traffic data and thereby improve road safety.

At the first European conference on connected and automated driving, the executive explained that sharing road safety data in real time can give a strong boost to overall road safety, without violating the privacy of road users.

“We believe this kind of data exchange should be carried out free of charge for the common good and for the benefit of society. It saves lives and saves time and money,” said Samuelsson, who also invited other car manufacturers and governments to work with the brand to give this kind of information exchange the widest possible coverage.

As a precedent, in 2015 Volvo Cars launched a collaborative project to share safety data with the traffic authorities of Sweden and Norway. Through a cloud-based network, all Volvo vehicles in a given area can learn information about road grip or whether another vehicle has its hazard lights on. This information is transmitted in real time to other drivers and to the traffic authorities so that they can respond quickly to these conditions.

At the conference, the president of the Swedish brand also stressed the need to improve safety in order to develop an appropriate regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles. “In a Level 3 vehicle, the driver must always be ready to take control in an emergency. We believe that Level 3 autonomous driving is not safe and therefore we will not implement it,” said Samuelsson.

In 2021, Volvo will launch its first Level 4 autonomous vehicles, vehicles that will operate without supervision on suitable roads and will be able to manage emergency situations and guarantee the safety of their occupants on their own, without driver intervention.