475 – Bob the dummy gets a pasting

MEET Bob the dummy, left.

Bob is the poor sap who gets driven at by journos in Volvo’s new S60 when it’s equipped with the new Driver Support Pack (cost £1250 on SE and above) to demonstrate the system’s capabilities.

The Driver Support Pack includes a stackful of additional Volvo safety kit, but includes the debut of Volvo’s potentially life-saving system for pedestrians, called Pedestrian Detection with ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control). It works through a radar mounted on the front of the grille and a camera that sits on the front windscreen behind which is mounted the rear view mirror.

Essentially the radar measures speed and objects; the camera works out if they are pedestrians.

At speeds below 22mph the car will brake automatically if it detects that the driver is taking no preventative action. To prove the system works, we drove towards Bob at 20mph. To say this is one of the most unnerving experiences I’ve ever done is an understatement. Every muscle, sinew, nerve and brain pulse in your body tells you to stamp on the brake, and swerve to avoid Bob.

But in the interests of finding out if Pedestrian Protection works, you keep your foot on the throttle and keep going towards the unflinching Bob. With a flash of red, warning lights ping on from the dash, and then the brakes go on and…inches from Bob, the Volvo stops. Hooray! It works, and Bob lives to fight another day. Phew!

The potential to save injury to pedestrians is immense. Just a second’s inattention and you could be running a real person down. But not with Volvo’s Pedestrian Detection.

But that’s all very well for speeds of 20mph or so. What about 30mph, a more typical urban speed? As Chris Wailes – Volvo’s European product & pricing manager – explained to me, the law of physics takes over. So while the Volvo can’t stop in time the system will, nevertheless, mitigate the potential for fatal injury by reducing the impact speed to 11mph (click on the second picture left). It would leave Bob probably with a broken leg, but has significantly reduced the potential for something more life-threatening.