The upcoming Volvo EX90 helps to keep you safe through understanding

Understanding the human experience

So what can you expect in our new Volvo EX90? It’s a car designed to understand you and its surroundings to help keep you, your loved ones and others in traffic safe. It can also get smarter and safer over time, as it learns from new data and receives updates.

The development of our latest safety technology is based on understanding human behaviour, rooted in decades of our own and others’ safety research. Every one of us is likely to experience or be affected by at least one car crash in our lifetime.

That’s not a judgment: we know that most of the time you’re a great driver, alert and ready to act when needed. But we’re all humans, and that also means to experience emotions.

We know that distraction and tiredness are facts of life, and that they travel with us. We know that you may not always be at your best, for whatever reason. And in traffic, it takes only a few seconds for the unthinkable to happen.

So our aim is to help you be a better driver and reduce the risk of a crash happening. The Volvo EX90 comes with an invisible shield of safety that includes our latest sensing technology, allowing the car to understand your state of mind and the world around you.

Tireless sensors

Start with the outside. State-of-the art sensors like cameras, radars and LiDAR, all powered by our core computing platform and software, work together to create a 360-degree real-time view of the world.

Our sensors don’t get tired or distracted. They are designed to respond and react when you’re just a millisecond too late. Our LiDAR senses the road in front of you, whether it’s day or night, also at highway speeds. It can see small objects hundreds of metres ahead, creating more time to inform, act and avoid.

And as our cars hit the roads and we learn from the data they generate, our research indicates that our software and sensors can help reduce accidents that result in serious injury or death by up to 20 per cent.

Likewise, we estimate we can even improve overall crash avoidance by up to 9 per cent, which could lead to millions of accidents avoided over time. That would be a big step in safety and for mankind.

Through the eyes of a Volvo car, the world looks so much safer

With LiDAR powered by core computing and software, Volvo Cars sees severe accidents decreasing by up to 20 per cent.

In the face of all the complex work we do to eliminate car crashes, fatalities and serious injuries, one simple fact still stands: the least dangerous crash is the one that never happens.

The car that looks out for you

LiDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges with high precision and fidelity.

The difference LiDAR can make for real-life safety is remarkable: our recent research indicates that adding LiDAR to an already car can reduce accidents with severe outcomes by up to 20 per cent, and overall crash avoidance can be improved by up to 9 per cent*.

Embedded in the roofline of the next EX90 and becoming standardised over time, the superior LiDAR technology can detect pedestrians at up to 250-metre distances and something as small and dark as a tire on a black road 120 metres ahead. All this while traveling at highway speeds. And because it’s not reliant on light like a camera, it’s watching over you in daylight and at night.

By combining our advanced sensors, in-house developed software and the car’s core computing power, we introduce redundancy for added safety, and aim to offer a car that can keep track of more potential hazards than we ever have before – both on the outside and inside.

Your Volvo car will understand you when you’re not at your best – and step in when you need support

We all like to think that we’re good drivers, but we also know that even the best among us make mistakes. People can be distracted, stressed, drowsy or in another state that impacts driving. And when people are not at their best, they may need help.

To reach our vision of a future with zero collisions, we have to look at all the reasons for why a crash might happen. Traditionally, we have focused on getting our cars to better understand what’s happening around them to help protect the people inside.

Our driver understanding system

The system will debut in the EX90 and complement a state-of-the-art exterior sensor set.

“Our research shows that by simply observing where the driver is looking and how often and for how long their eyes are closed, we can tell a lot about the state of the driver,” said Emma Tivesten, Senior Technical Expert, Volvo Cars Safety Center.

“By basing its calculations on our research findings, the sensing system allows our cars to identify whether the driver’s ability is impaired, perhaps due to drowsiness, distraction or other causes for inattention and to offer extra assistance in a way that best suits the situation.”

Using its two cameras to pick up early signals that indicate that the driver is not at their best, the system observes the driver’s eye-gaze patterns. By measuring how much of the time the driver looks at the road ahead, allowing for natural variations, it understands when the driver’s eyes, and perhaps therefore mind, are focused somewhere other than on driving.

A watchful guardian

Inside, our invisible shield of safety also looks out for you. Special sensors and cameras, powered by our own in-house developed algorithms, gauge eye gaze concentration. The technology allows the EX90 to see when you’re distracted, tired or otherwise inattentive, beyond what has been possible in a Volvo car to date.

It will alert you, first softly nudging, then more insistent if needed. And if the unthinkable happens, and you fall asleep or take ill while driving, the EX90 is designed to safely stop and call for help.

We will reveal a lot more details about our new all-electric flagship in coming weeks before the global reveal on November 9, so stay tuned!

By researching, learning and developing, we have constantly improved the crash prevention systems in our cars, delivering some of the most advanced and effective systems to date. And our work continues as we head towards our vision of zero deaths and serious injuries in new Volvo cars.

With the Volvo EX90, which we’ll unveil on the 9th of November, we will offer one of the most advanced sensors sets on the market. A Volvo-unique set of eight cameras, five radars, 16 ultrasonic sensors, and a cutting-edge LiDAR sensor.

The car will not only be able to step in and assist the driver, it will also have a better understanding of when it’s needed and how assist in the best way.

“We believe the EX90 to be the safest Volvo car to ever hit the road,” said Joachim de Verdier, head of Safe Vehicle Automation at Volvo Cars. “We are fusing our understanding of the outside environment with our more detailed understanding of driver attention. When all our safety systems, sensors, software and computing power come together, they create a preventative shield of safety around you – and you won’t even know it’s there until you need it.”

Our cars’ understanding of the outside world, together with their capability of better understanding the driver’s attention, also form critical parts of our forthcoming autonomous driving technology.

Once our safety verifications are in place and all necessary approvals have been secured, this Autonomous Drive technology will be introduced in the EX90.

*Scenario frequencies based on Volvo Cars Traffic Accident Database.

But to break new ground in how to protect people, we need to go further – we need to improve the car’s understanding of the driver’s state.

That is why we’re introducing our driver understanding system as standard in our EX90, which will be revealed on the 9th of November 2022. This real-time interior sensing system is guided by a straight-forward concept: if a Volvo car can understand when the driver is in a state that isn’t optimal for driving, the car can make sure to take action to help avoid accidents.

Is the driver looking at the road too little? It can be a sign that they are visually distracted, perhaps from looking at their phone. Too much? That can be a sign of cognitive distraction, which could mean that the driver is occupied by their thoughts to the point where they no longer register what they are looking at.

The car’s capacitive steering wheel also plays a role. It senses if the driver lets go of the wheel, thus monitoring the stability of their steering input.

By using our patented technology for real time sensing of gaze patterns and steering behavior, the car will be able to take appropriate action to help the driver when needed. The assistance can start with a simple warning signal that grows in volume with the severity of the situation. If the driver doesn’t respond to increasingly clear warnings, the car can even safely stop by the side of the road, sending a warning to other road users with its hazard lights.

“We’ve made great progress on exterior sensing in the last decades, thanks to our committed work on crash prevention systems,” said Thomas Broberg, Acting Head of Volvo Cars Safety Centre. “Interior sensing is one of the next safety frontiers for us. We will continue to learn, develop and deploy new features step by step to help improve safety as our knowledge increases and matures.”

Kuala Lumpur, 23rd September 2022 – Ask any person on the street what comes to mind when they think of Volvo Cars, and many will answer: safety. It’s what we’re proud to be known for, it’s what we’ve built our brand on.

For us, safety is not a marketing exercise or another regulatory hurdle to clear. It’s at the core of our purpose as a company.

As our chief executive Jim Rowan puts it in a new keynote, we’ve been around for almost 100 years as a leader in automotive safety, setting new standards and inventing new technologies that have saved many lives.

In our forthcoming Volvo EX90 all-electric flagship SUV, which will be revealed on November 9, that legacy continues. The standard safety in the EX90 will be beyond that of any Volvo before it. As it should be, because only innovation can drive us forward and make things better.

We’ll continue to innovate until cars don’t crash anymore, until we’re 100 per cent carbon free as a company. All in order to protect more lives, in line with our purpose. The EX90 is the start of a new era for Volvo Cars, taking our legacy of safety, quality and innovation into the future.