No one will be killed or injured in a Volvo vehicle in the year 2020. That is the mid-term goal for employees, designers and engineers at Volvo Car Corp. Ambitious, for sure, but the company is actually reaching even further: one day, all vehicles simply will not crash.

Impossible? Perhaps. But it’s a vision that we’re working toward to address a problem of pandemic proportions. The World Health Organization estimates 1.2 million people are killed and more than 50 million are injured in automobile collisions every year.

Tragic as these collisions are, society seems more willing to accept them as a common occurrence while simultaneously viewing an airline crash as unacceptable. For us at Volvo Cars, we would like to see the day when automobile collisions are as rare as airline tragedies.
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To realize this vision, engineers and designers are working on futuristic systems that will allow Volvo vehicles to communicate with other vehicles - regardless of brand - and even the road itself to keep the driver abreast of obstructions, traffic and environmental conditions.

Obviously, this requires a level of industry-wide technological sophistication and infrastructure integration that’s many years away. In the meantime, Volvo Cars has been implementing measures to help Volvo drivers avoid a collision because, frankly, the best way to survive a collision is to avoid it completely.

Since the company was founded in 1927, Volvo Cars has made huge advances in the field of protective safety systems (i.e. three-point seat belts, side impact airbags, whiplash protection systems, collision energy management structures) that protect occupants in a collision.

These systems will continue to develop and improve, but at an incremental rate relative to the progress we’ve seen in recent history.

With today’s sophisticated sensors and processing technology, preventive safety systems that help drivers avoid a collision have begun making significant strides in the modern automobile. Volvo Cars is at the forefront of this movement and believes that with effective implementation, new preventive safety systems can help drivers avoid a collision or - if the driver takes no action and a collision becomes imminent and unavoidable - engage to reduce collision forces as much as possible to improve the performance of protective safety systems.

Take, for example, the City Safety system that will be found on the new Volvo XC60. Utilizing laser sensors, City Safety monitors an area up to 10 metres ahead of the XC60 and is designed to avoid or mitigate the effects of low-speed collisions that are typical in dense traffic, intersections or parking lots.

At speeds up to 15 km/h, if the XC60 approaches a slowing or stopped vehicle in front and the driver does not engage the brakes, City Safety will autonomously apply up to 50 per cent braking power in an attempt to avoid a collision. Between 15 and 30 km/h, the same amount of braking power is applied, but the goal is to reduce speed as much as possible to reduce the effects of a collision.

It’s important that I stress City Safety is a last-step system that engages only when the driver takes no action in an impending collision situation. As City Safety is designed to activate in a forceful way just before a collision occurs, the driver should only experience it engage when a collision becomes unavoidable and, therefore, is unlikely to rely on it. As well, City Safety will not override any action taken by the driver, nor will it engage if the driver is actively piloting the vehicle. City Safety is designed to assist a distracted driver and improve the chances that the vehicle will avoid a collision.

What’s critical about this system is that Volvo Cars has made City Safety standard equipment on every XC60 in every market around the world. The reason for this initiative is the result of our real-world safety research - and recognizing the benefit the system could provide not only to the owners of the XC60, but also the owners of other vehicles on the road.

Since its formation in 1970, the Volvo Cars Accident Research Team has investigated more than 36,000 real-world collisions involving Volvo vehicles. The team fills a database with information about the crashed vehicles to evaluate the performance of existing safety systems and develop their understanding of why the collision occurred in the first place. Armed with this data, Volvo Cars safety experts develop new technologies to deliver better protective safety and new ways to help drivers avoid a collision.

This real-world research has revealed that approximately 75 per cent of all collisions happen at speeds up to 30 km/h and 50 per cent of those collisions occur in urban environments.

With these statistics, the benefits of City Safety become immediately clear. Avoiding or mitigating the effects of the most common low-speed collisions results in reduced repair costs for the XC60 owner as well as for the owner of the vehicle that’s struck. It could also mean reduced likelihood of whiplash injuries for both parties.

The XC60 will also offer a number of systems that help avoid collisions at higher speeds.

Take, for example, the Collision Warning with Auto Brake (CWAB). Utilizing radar and digital camera technology, CWAB will warn the driver if a frontal collision seems likely and - again, if no action is taken and a collision becomes imminent - apply up to 50 per cent braking power to reduce collision forces. Or the Blind Spot Information System (BLIS), which uses digital cameras on the side-view mirrors to notify the Volvo driver with an appropriate amber light if a vehicle is in their traditional blind spot. CWAB is currently available on many Volvo vehicles and BLIS is optional on all models.

Following in the footsteps of CWAB and BLIS, City Safety represents the newest development in our dedication to preventive safety. With its introduction, the company has taken a significant step toward achieving its goal of no one being killed or injured in a Volvo vehicle by 2020. But, more importantly, it’s also a step toward a future where collisions are a thing of the past.

For 10 days in December, Cochin will bask in the international media limelight. The Everest of sailing, Volvo Ocean Race, is all set to meet its date with the Queen of Arabian sea for the first time in history.

The designer, carbon-fiber yachts will be reaching the port of Kochi by December 3, 2008 and will be there for 10 days to witness a visual extravaganza before starting leg three of the race to Sentosa Island in Singapore.

Singapore and Qingdao in China are the other ports of call for the race in Asia. ”We try to take the race to different and wider audiences.

Including Kochi as one of the stopovers further reinforces our commitment to the Indian market. India has hundreds of millions of enthusiastic sports fans and we know they will enjoy this challenging and spectacular race, with its passion, teamwork, adventure and excitement.

The Volvo Ocean Race reflects the values that our customers look for when they choose a car. It’s all about an active lifestyle, adventure and passion – in short its life at the extreme,” says Paul de Voijs, MD, Volvo Car India.

The race, surely, is not meant for amateurs and is an ultimate endurance test. It involves nine months of hard sailing with potential dangers of storms, icebergs and whales. The teams will cover approximately 39,000 nautical miles.

The race will start on October 4, 2008 from Alicante in Spain and will pass through Cape Town, Kochi, Singapore, Qingdao, Rio De Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Goteborg, Stockholm before finishing in July 2009 at St Petersberg in Russia.