Unveiled at the IAA commercial vehicles exhibition in Hannover, Germany. the system will be introduced on Volvo’s European city bus fleet next year ( 2017), although trials will begin in Gothenburg this autumn.
Peter Danielsson, director of vehicle features and safety at Volvo Buses, explains that the new system uses cameras to continuously monitor bus surroundings, sounding an alarm to warn road-users while also alerting the driver.
If it detects an imminent risk of an incident, the bus’s horn is activated, he adds.
“Several of the components in our system are based on the same technology found in cars. But we are the only vehicle manufacturer to offer a solution that simultaneously notifies both driver and unprotected road-user,” insists Danielsson.
And he makes the point that Volvo’s new warning system is important in eliminating additional risks arising from electric buses, which operate much more quietly than their diesel counterparts.
Meanwhile, in other news, Volvo Buses also introduced a suite of fuel saving technology designed for long-distance buses – dynamic chassis lowering, a new version of the I-Shift AMT (automated manual transmission) and the I-See ‘intelligent’ cruise control add-on that optimises the drivetrains for hilly terrain.
The former, says Volvo, involves automatically lowering the bus’s chassis by 20mm at speeds above 80km/h – resulting in reduced aerodynamic drag and fuel savings of “up to 0.5%”.
As for I-Shift, the company has developed a more energy-efficient version, which it says offers smoother and faster gear changing and reduced internal power losses.
But the big hitter is I-See, which Volvo says delvers up to 2.5% better fuel economy, depending on the severity of the terrain encountered.