1991 Volvo 940 Turbo on 2040-cars

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Volvos will brake for bicyclists with new detection technology

Anyone who pedals a bicycle knows that one of the biggest dangers to riders is a motorized vehicle - Volvo estimates that nearly 50 percent of all cyclists killed in European traffic have collided with a car. In the United States alone, 618 riders lost their lives in bicycle/motor vehicle crashes in 2010, and the number of injuries surpassed 52,000.
To help drop those numbers, Volvo has just announced Cyclist Detection with full auto brake - a technology that detects and automatically applies a vehicle's brakes when a cyclist swerves in front of a moving car. The basic components of the system include a radar unit integrated into the front grille, a camera fitted in front of the interior rear-view mirror and a central control unit. The radar is tasked with seeing obstacles in front of the vehicle and calculating distance, while the camera is responsible to determine what the object is. The central control unit, with rapid processing capabilities, monitors and evaluates the situation.
The technology, which will be sold bundled with its Pedestrian Detection and called Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection, will automatically apply full braking when both the radar and camera confirm a pedestrian or cyclist are in the immediate path of the vehicle. According to the automaker, the technology will be offered on the Volvo V40, S60, V60, XC60, V70, XC70 and S80 models from mid-May in 2013.

2024 Volvo C40 and XC40 Recharge First Drive Review: Back to the RWD future

The 2024 Volvo XC40 Recharge and C40 EVs will be available with rear-wheel drive, replacing the front-wheel-drive version that has been the fraternal pairing’s single-motor base model. This is obviously newsworthy — why else would I be writing about it? But does it actually mean anything? After driving both of these vehicles around the lakes, seaside, perfectly-maintained highways, and cobblestoned urban streets proximate to the brandÂ’s headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, I can say that the answer is, not really. But thatÂ’s not really VolvoÂ’s fault. The last time Volvo sold a rear-wheel-drive vehicle in the United States was 1998 when the cushy, brick-like 960 was retired (officially S90 and V90 in their final year). Everything thereafter was front-wheel drive or at least on a front-drive-based platform, in no small part due to the additional all-weather traction and stability afforded by the additional weight of an internal combustion engine and transaxle over the drive wheels. In short, it was safer, and even as Volvo moved away from decades of arcane, rectilinear design, safety remained its raison dÂ’etre.   That hasnÂ’t changed, but according to Volvo, EVs have fundamentally changed vehicle dynamics, centers of gravity, and weight distribution to refute the front-drive argument. A Volvo spokesperson told me that this new one-motor layout in the XC/C40, driving the rear wheels, with contemporary advanced driver assistance systems, is better in inclement weather than a gas-engine/FWD combo. That explains why the switch to a standard rear-drive layout doesnÂ’t run afoul of VolvoÂ’s established ethos, but why make the switch in the first place? Whether it was the plan all along, or just an advancement of next-generation technology to prolong and extend the relevance of these vehicles, is not something Volvo would comment on. In any event, many of the base EVs that are in or near the XC/C40Â’s competitive set — the VW ID.4, the Kia EV6, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 — feature rear-wheel drive in their single-motor setup. It is notable that all of those cars were developed from the ground up as EVs and could be optimized for the aforementioned dynamics. The XC40 and C40 were built on a platform capable of accommodating gas-only, plug-in hybrid and full-electric powertrains.

Volvo's SuperTruck 2 looks ready to extend a ramp for K.I.T.T.

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) entered a public-private partnership with willing Class 8 truck makers, the goal of the partnership to dramatically improve the freight efficiency of over-the-road (OTR) trucks. The term "freight efficiency" refers to freight-ton efficiency, a different metric than miles per gallon because it takes into account the weight of the truck; a lighter tractor-trailer can carry more weight before reaching the 80,000-pound legal maximum on most U.S. highways. Volvo, Daimler (which owns the Freightliner and Sterling brands), Navistar (International), and Peterbilt signed on the the partnership to develop what's being called a SuperTruck. Volvo, Daimler, and International make their own engines, Peterbilt teamed up with Cummins, and all four found their own trailer manufacturers to work with. Those four makers debuted their first iterations of what's being dubbed SuperTrucks about six years ago. This year has been all about SuperTruck 2, Volvo the last of the quartet to show what it's achieved. The goal for SuperTruck 1 was to achieve a 50% increase in freight efficiency compared to a 2009 baseline, the baseline in Volvo's case being a 2009 VNL 670 tractor. The goal for SuperTruck 2 was another 50% improvement. Volvo said its internal goal was a 120% betterment compared to 2009, and that it exceeded the mark with a 134% increase. The company said the huge gains came primarily from aerodynamics: A wedge-shaped front with a smaller frontal area thanks to a smaller cooling package; the heavily curved, wraparound windshield; the tractor's adjustable ride height; using camera for side mirrors; and adding a boat tail to the back of the trailer, plus enough fairings and skirts front-to-back to make the tractor and trailer look like a single unit when driving in a straight line. Volvo did make changes to its rolling lab that aren't likely to infiltrate the U.S. market anytime soon. It's common for U.S. OTR trucks to use a 6x4 configuration, with two axles behind the cab, both driven. Volvo's SuperTruck 2 went with a 4x2 setup common in Europe, using a single axle behind the cab, and fitted a composite driveshaft. Combined with making the chassis out of aluminum instead of steel, and trailer partner Wabash providing a lightweight aluminum van, the tractor-trailer combo weighed just 27,000 pounds.