[Gandhi]

Stumbled on to this video on youtube about volvo's latest braking technology. It's really impressive.

First see this video -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ridS396W2BY

This is the press release -

Volvo Trucks has developed Collision Warning with Emergency Brake – an advanced emergency braking system equipped with early collision warning to help prevent severe accidents caused by inattention.
Rear-end collisions account for a significant proportion of road accidents. In order to address this problem, Volvo Trucks has developed Collision Warning with Emergency Brake - an advanced emergency braking system which also includes early collision warning. The braking system, which is available on the new Volvo FH Series, has been developed to support the driver so that the majority of these rear-end collisions can be avoided or mitigated.
"We began by asking ‘what really is the problem?'. The answer is inattention. If you watched the traffic ahead of you the whole time, you wouldn't need systems like these," says Carl Johan Almqvist, Traffic & Product Safety Director, Volvo Trucks.
The new system combines a radar and a camera that work together to identify and monitor vehicles in front. The system is designed to deal with both stationary and moving vehicles and can prevent a collision with a moving target at relative speeds of up to 70 km/h. When the system detects a vehicle that the truck will hit at its current speed, the warning system activates a constant red light in the windscreen in order to bring the driver's attention back to the road.
"We don't want to take over from drivers because we believe they are in the best position to respond, as they might be able to safely drive around the vehicle," says Almqvist.
However, if the truck fails to detect any reaction from the driver, such as steering or braking, the system upgrades to a flashing red light and a beeping sound. If there is still no reaction, the system applies the brakes gently. When all this fails, the system activates the emergency braking system and does everything possible to bring the truck to a complete stop.
"In the vast majority of cases, the initial warning signals will attract the driver's attention. And in the rare case that they don't, the emergency braking system will still help prevent a serious accident," says Carl Johan Almqvist.
In Europe, emergency braking systems will be a legal requirement in new trucks by November 2015.

Source - http://www.volvotrucks.com/trucks/gl...px?pubId=14200

Animation video explaining the same -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBT3tB_AQQA

I wonder if this will work when the emergency braking has to be applied on a curve.

[ecenandu]

Mercedes has introduced this before,

Take a look at the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSQSueFrxzI

EDIT: The Mercedes trucks are stopped further away from the obstacle, where as the Volvo trucks almost kisses the obstacle. There is hardly few feet distance between the truck and the car when it stopped.

[condor]

Liked this statement:

"We don't want to take over from drivers because we believe they are in the best position to respond, as they might be able to safely drive around the vehicle,"

btw, the Volvo was doing about 60 kmph. But since the rated speed for activation is relative, the system looks really good.

[F150]

A great feature to have in trucks,and will save several lives in INDIA especially when the drivers are doing double shifts or the cleaner is driving. However, I doubt if trucks with such advanced markets will ever be purchased by the freight operators in INDIA.

I some how felt, the VOLVO was braking better and the recoil in the front suspension is also lower when compared to the MB truck.

[sudev]

Nice idea. I wonder what happens in real life situation where many trucks are running behind each other on the highway. The reaction time for the third or fourth vehicles become smaller and smaller.

Would some sort of standardised transmission for following vehicle's system to react help?

[sagarpadaki]

This technology must atleast be incorporated in mid and high end cars! With maniac drivers increasing coupled with powerful cars , there are lots of deadly cocktails on the road., it makes sense to have this system in cars . As someone has said i doubt if the truck owners would be able to afford this system .Even if they do buy, with the trucks being overloaded, i doubt how effectively this system would work in India!.But hey, Car owners can have this as a very good collision prevention system!

[Gandhi]

One more question that sprung into my mind is the effect of such braking on tires. How would the tires bare such extreme braking on these big trucks? Do they need special grade tires like those in airplanes?

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by F150

I some how felt, the VOLVO was braking better and the recoil in the front suspension is also lower when compared to the MB truck.

Volvo was stopping from 60 Km/h to 0 whereas the MB was doing 80 Km/h.

Originally Posted by Gandhi

One more question that sprung into my mind is the effect of such braking on tires. How would the tires bare such extreme braking on these big trucks? Do they need special grade tires like those in airplanes?

Why? Emergency braking is not every day action (atleast in Europe or other parts of the world). Hence, normal tires do the job and if there is a situation which demands such an emergency braking, I am sure, the driver will be wise enough to pull over after it and check on his tyres. It will simply escalate the cost if one has to use heavy duty tyres to withstand such situations which are encountered may be once in a while. (or some lucky ones never experience it at all!)

[condor]

I wonder if they have included a feature to flash the (rear) brake lights of the truck as soon as the red /warning lights start flashing for the driver. This can warn the vehicle behind the truck that something is wrong ahead, and help prepare the people behind the truck also for an emergency braking.

[HammerHead]

IIRC, Mercedes was the first manufacturer to introduce EBA or BA in its S-Class.

In video, Mercedes seems to have better braking compared to Volvo, I feel trucks equipped with this feature should have 'soft' rear to safely accommodate smaller vehicles in case of collision.

Imagine you are following one of these trucks in a car and doing 80 KM/hr and the truck in front of you suddenly stops the way Mercedes truck stopped in the demo video

[mayankjha1806]

This seems to be on Audi as well, wish this comes to passenger cars as soon as possible. This would seriously avoid rear ending or possibly even head on.

Its called Audi Presence, BTW is it already available in current Audi cars?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN-OuywMEfc

[thoma]

Great. It just seemed to me that the Volvo was more composed.

Wonder whether the sensor detects the guide rails put on the curbs of the highway, while taking a curve, as an obstacle.

Another thing that crossed my mind was, in conditions of bad loading and overloading, sudden stoppage means that the load is likely to thrust through the cabin, due to inertia. The test trucks in the video didn't seem to carry much load.

[SmartCat]

The persons driving the cars in front of the Volvo/Merc trucks barreling down at 80 kmph with experimental automatic braking technology - I wonder what salary package is being offered to them!

[anand_lukose]

especially when one of the safety demonstrations of Volvo cars failed in front of journalists !

I am curious to know if these trucks were carrying substantial loads for this test ? i assume the dynamics of the truck on braking changes a lot with the load. From the video it appeared that the MB trucks brake at 100% after the warning whereas the Volvo's slow down a bit before going full on the brakes. I guess that gives some time for the drivers to react.

[Pal]

Absolutely Class. This is a must! I wonder though I didnt hear any squeals from the tires under such heavy braking. Howzzat? If it is due to the ABS, shudnt the ABS actually increase the braking distance? Interesting right?

Also agree with above, the truck must have a pre-warning brake llights at the rear of the trucks too.