Volvo Cars & Trucks Can Share Traffic Alerts With Each Other

Apps such as Waze and Google Maps rely a lot on crowdsourced information, where users can report incidents like accidents, traffic jams, and so on. However it seems that if you drive a Volvo vehicle, you might be able to get more information from other Volvo vehicles, thanks to the use of a cloud-based system.

The company has announced that starting today, some of its cars and trucks will be able to share traffic alerts with each other. This isn’t exactly a new feature because for example in the past if a Volvo car were to switch on their hazard lights, it would send that information to the cloud and it will then alert nearby Volvo cars that another Volvo car could have broken down nearby.

However this would be the first time that Volvo Cars will be sharing that information with Volvo trucks, thus essentially expanding their network. According to Malin Ekholm, vice president of the Volvo Cars Safety Centre, “Sharing real-time safety data based on our connected safety technology can help avoid accidents. The more vehicles we have sharing safety data in real time, the safer our roads become. We look forward to establishing further collaborations with other partners who share our commitment to traffic safety.”

Volvo’s Hazard Light Alert system has more or less become a standard in models sold in Sweden and Norway, so by expanding the number of vehicles that can share/receive the alerts, it will potentially help create a safer system. However in case it wasn’t already obvious, the only drawback is that you will need to own a Volvo car or truck to take advantage of it.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Transportation
Tags: volvo