Volvo cars to detect if you are drunk/distracted

ABU DHABI: In the United States alone, 30% of all road fatalities are caused due to drunk driving. With such a high number it makes sense if there was a system that could prevent drunk/distracted driving. This is exactly what Volvo intends to do. This comes as a part of Volvo’s Vision 2020 (a plan to reduce the number of people who die or are seriously injured in road traffic accidents to zero).

Many modern day cars have a feature which analyses steering input to determine if the driver is potentially tired (usually portrayed by the coffee cup symbol). Well, Volvo wants to take this one step further. You might be wondering how? With the addition of cameras and sensors that can help detect if the driver is potentially intoxicated/distracted. Along with this system, Volvo has made a statement that it would limit their cars top speed to 180 kmph in the future.

If the driver is drunk/distracted and does not heed to the warning signals, the system can automatically take action. It could slow down the vehicle or even alert the Volvo on Call assistance. Henrik Green, Senior Vice President of research and development at Volvo said “When it comes to safety, our aim is to avoid accidents altogether rather than limit the impact when an accident is imminent and unavoidable. “In this case, cameras will monitor for behaviour that may lead to serious injury or death.”

This new system will make its way into Volvo models from early 2020, the first of which will be the next generation SPA2 platform (used in their larger vehicles). Although this system is meant as a safety feature, it does make you wonder about how much control the driver actually has. Modern cars are heading towards complete autonomy, and with that, the thrill of driving is also slowly fading away.