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ICYMI: The death-proof car, rat gambling addiction and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-359509{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-359509, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-359509{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-359509").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Volvo just pledged to build a 'deathproof' automobile by 2020 that will include adaptive cruise control and pedestrian detection. By 'deathproof,' it means unless you are crazy stupid (ie: Go flying off the Golden Gate Bridge in it), you won't be able to die in one of the company's cars.
Tell your Volvo what to do with the Microsoft Band 2 this spring
CES has become more and more of a car show in recent years, and automakers continue to look for ways to fit smartphone and wearable connections into their vehicles. The latest attempt comes from Microsoft and Volvo, who have partnered to make it possible to chat with your car via the Microsoft Band 2. Once your car is set up using the Volvo on Call app, you'll be able to speak to it with the Band 2 -- it'll let you set navigation, turn on the climate control system, lock the doors, flash the lights or sound the horn. (The latter two seem particularly useful if you can't find your car in the parking lot.)
Volvo is making a media streaming system for autonomous cars
We've all thought the exact same thing: when self-driving cars hit the mainstream, I'll be able to catch up on Game of Thrones during my commute. In reality, however, lawmakers are preparing to make sure your full attention is on the road even when you're not driving. Still, it's a good dream -- and Volvo and Ericsson are working on a streaming platform designed specifically for autonomous vehicles.
Watch a 4-year-old drive a dump truck by remote control
To prove the toughness of its latest FMX truck, Volvo turned it into an RC racer and handed the "keys" to the luckiest 4-year-old ever. The results were what you'd expect: Pure chaos. To be fair, young Sophie probably guided the vehicle better than we would have at that age (or even now). However, steering a multi-ton rig from afar ain't easy, so she managed to hit obstacles, roll the vehicle into a pit and (safely) crash through a house. At the end of her trip, the vehicle emerged relatively unscathed and was still driveable.
Microsoft HoloLens to provide AR demos in Volvo showrooms
Microsoft and Volvo have joined forces, thankfully not for the sake of creating a gaudy car-themed phone, but to equip the automaker's showrooms with HoloLens headsets. Starting next year, Volvo will be able to showcase things not usually possible to demo instantly and indoors -- say, its cars' safety features, such as collision avoidance, and various possible customization options -- through holograms. The two companies have recently exhibited a prototype version of the system at Microsoft's HQ in Redmond using the upcoming S90 luxury sedan as their subject. Thanks to augmented reality, they were able to display not only holographic models of the unreleased car, but also cross sections of its parts.
Volvo's first fully electric car will arrive in 2019
Volvo's been bullish about self-driving vehicles, but it's much more coy when it comes to electric cars. The company's latest XC90 has a hybrid edition, and there's an existing V60 plug-in, but nothing fully electric. Finally, the Swedish auto-maker is ready to go all in, confirming an all-electric vehicle will go on sale in 2019, plus plans to offer hybrid versions of every car in its range, alongside a new "series 40" range of smaller electrified cars. That's still quite a wait for the full EV, and the hybrids might not show up until 2017, but as the Wall Street Journal suggests, Volvo might have been spurred on to make the announcement by the recent VW scandal around diesel engines.
Volvo wants robots to help collect your garbage
To call garbage collection an inglorious job would be an understatement -- it typically involves early mornings, monotony and (of course) lots of smelly trash. It's the perfect sort of job for a robot, don't you think? Volvo agrees. It's partnering with both universities and waste management firm Renova on ROAR (Robot-based Autonomous Refuse handling), a project that has robots pick up your trash while a human oversees everything from the relative comfort of the garbage truck. It's still early going (the odds are that the end product will look nothing like what you see above), but the hope is that it'll eliminate most of the drudgery and noise of scooping up waste. You should see the first tests in June 2016, although it could be a while longer before you see automatons in front of your house -- ROAR won't be practical unless the robots can reliably empty cans and bins in real-world conditions.
Volvo's On Call app can control your car from a smartwatch
Sure, you drive a Volvo and not an Aston Martin, but that doesn't mean you can't pretend to be a charming spy who controls his car with a high-tech watch. Volvo will soon release its On Call app for Android Wear devices and the Apple Watch, after all, and it comes with all the features its predecessors for tablets and smartphones have. That means you can poke around your arm candy to remotely lock or unlock the car's doors, switch on the heater or air conditioner and check fuel and mileage. You can also ask it for help if your Volvo's lost in a sea of cars in a parking lot. And just like the older apps, it quickly connects you to an operator, who then tracks your location through GPS, if your airbags get deployed. Volvo wrapped the smartwatch apps in a new design based on the Sensus connected interface, but you'll have to wait until the end of June before you can give them a spin.
Volvo's reflective bike paint helps cars spot you at night
Want to feel nervous? Try riding a bike at night alongside a busy road. Even if you're festooned in lights and reflectors, there's a real chance that a less-than-attentive driver will smack into you. Volvo may have a better way to keep cars at a distance, however. Its new LifePaint spray is invisible during the day, but reflects car headlights in the evening. You can coat your bike, your clothing or most anything else and provide a heads-up to motorists, who'll see bright white as they get close. It only lasts for 10 days at a time, but you can wash it off -- just don't ride during a heavy rainstorm and you'll be fine. The biggest challenge is simply getting some cans for yourself. Volvo is only offering LifePaint in six London- and Kent-area bike shops right now, and availability will depend on how it fares in these test areas.
Volvo's bike helmet concept alerts riders and drivers to each other
You know what will go perfectly with those futuristic rocket-powered, heartrate-monitoring bikes? This smart helmet that Volvo wants to create. It's a two-way system that works by uploading both cyclists' and drivers' locations to Volvo's cloud. While a connected car's in-dash system makes that possible, the helmet needs to be linked to a bike app like Strava to do so. Bicyclists can then be warned that there's a car coming their way or crossing their path by warning lights built into the helmet.
Automakers promise to limit the data they collect from your car (updated)
A modern car is potentially loaded with data: it could be collecting performance stats, where you've been and your internet usage. How do you know that it's not secretly sending that data to advertisers and insurers? You might not have to worry much longer. The Auto Alliance (which includes most major American and German brands) has published a set of privacy principles that will limit both the info these companies collect from your car and dictate how they handle it. If all goes according to plan, the voluntary rules will kick in with the 2017 model year as well as any services that launch in 2016.
Volvo's big rig continuously scans surroundings to prevent accidents
If Volvo has its way, truck accidents could be on the way out. The automaker is working on system for the haulers to help drivers avoid wrecks, aiming to combat low visibility as one of the primary causes of collisions. In order to keep an eye on things, the company is developing tech that continuously monitors surroundings with a 360-degree scan. A smattering of sensors, radar and cameras are placed around the truck to boost safety -- especially in urban areas full of pedestrians and cyclists. Once the data is collected, the system interprets the details to communicate warnings, and it can even take control of steering and braking if the driving doesn't respond in time. That all sounds quite good, until you hear that Volvo says the system won't be market-ready for another 5-10 years.
UK to let driverless cars loose on roads by January
Anxious to start... not driving in the UK? Though late to the party, the government has announced that driverless cars will hit the streets in three UK cities starting in January 2015. The Department of Transport also launched a £10 million ($17 million) fund to spur research and reach the deadline. Once the three cities are selected for trials, two different types of self-driving vehicles will be tested: fully autonomous cars with no driver, and self-driving models that can relinquish control to a human pilot. All of that will be laid out in new road laws now being formulated to accommodate such vehicles.
Volvo building an electric roadway to wirelessly charge buses
Not content with its energy-sipping plug in hybrid buses, energy-friendly Gothenburg, the Volvo Group and Swedish Transport Administration have announced grand plans to hopefully augment its Hyper Bus fleet with inductive charging. Hyper Bus, or Hybrid and Plug-in Extended Range Bus system, recharges its power supply with a quick charging rig that takes only five to eight minutes to top up power at the end of the line. This quick charge enables the bus to run most of its route on electric power alone because it doesn't need to stop for hours to juice up. One-upping itself, the program is now looking at creating a test route dubbed: ElectriCity -- clever, right? -- which will feature a 300 to 500 meter (roughly 1000 to 1500 feet) inductive charging pathway. Aimed at replacing those quick charging stations, the test route will zap the bus' power source wirelessly while it's in motion. The group hopes to have a system up and running in central Gothenburg sometime in mid-2015. Bonus? If your stop happens to be near the wireless charging area, someday laying a phone down on the road could help boost your battery life -- or melt the handset -- while you wait.
Researchers maximize your hybrid's battery by learning your routine
Researchers have figured out a way to make your Prius even more efficient by tracking your route to work. Right now your car uses the battery until its power runs out and then starts dipping into your gasoline supply. It's a solution that works, but isn't the best use of power. Viktor Larsson from Chalmers University of Technology developed a system that analyzes that monotonous route you take to work (including that much-needed Starbucks detour), and then determines how to get the most out of your battery. For instance, your car might switch to gas on the highway where it's more efficient and save your stored power for the stop-and-go traffic in the office park.
Volvo's self-driving cars tackle merging, braking traffic in first road tests
Volvo has now joined Google and others by testing autonomous cars on public roads, in its hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden, no less. This is the first phase of its "Drive Me" project, and will be limited to semi-autonomous vehicles on 50km (30 miles) of set commuter routes. The vehicles have progressed to where they can now adapt their speeds, follow traffic and deal with merging vehicles, according to Volvo. That means drivers still need to give their undivided attention, but eventually, the automaker intends to have 100 fully autonomous vehicles on the road operating in an "Autopilot" mode. Volvo hopes to avoid the kind of collisions that its cars are famous for surviving by eliminating the main cause -- us.
AT&T welcomes Volvo to its connected-car fold
Volvo's already got game when it comes to the connected car, what with its grocery delivery concept and vehicle-to-vehicle communications system. But this year, the automobile manufacturer is joining the AT&T flock to bring even faster in-car wireless services to its Sensus Connect infotainment center, courtesy of the carrier's Single SIM platform. Customers in the US and Canada who purchase a model from Volvo's 2015 lineup (like the new V70 seen above) will gain access to Volvo On Call, which lets you tap into tire and fuel level notifications, roadside assistance and the like, right from Volvo's iOS app. Sound awesome? If so, you can splurge on a new ride as early as this summer. Unless you're holding out for Apple's much cheaper CarPlay option, of course.
Volvo's connected cars could make winter driving safer for everyone
With its latest research project, Volvo is hoping to make driving in inclement weather a bit less dicey. The Swedish automaker is testing a safety system that uses mobile data networks to relay icy road conditions from vehicle to vehicle. Once you hit a slick spot, the location data uploads to Volvo's database and then an instant notification is sent to other cars nearing that area. As the outfit tells it, the in-car app will adjust the warning's intensity based on your speed as well as the road conditions. Meaning that, if you're crawling up the interstate at 5MPH through a whiteout, your dashboard won't light up in the way that, say, someone's would if they were doing 88MPH. What's more, the system will transmit the pavement-friction data to maintenance crews, so more (or less) salt and snowplows can be deployed in a given area, making the roads safer for everyone -- not just Volvo owners. The pilot program is limited to some 50 vehicles for now, but the firm promises that next winter the fleet'll grow "considerably."
Apple is reportedly launching iOS in the Car next week with Ferrari, Mercedes and Volvo
Apple's iOS in the Car has been a long time in coming -- we first heard about the automotive interface last June, and it still isn't ready despite the presence of relevant code in recent iOS 7 builds. The wait may soon be over, though, as the Financial Times hears that Apple will unveil formal car integration deals with Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo next week. There aren't more forthcoming details, although the rumored announcement implies that the automakers could name compatible models and possibly show the technology in action. We wouldn't refer to iOS in the Car as Apple's "first in-car operating system," like the FT does -- it's still dependent on an iPad or iPhone to work. Even so, any potential launch next week would represent a big step forward for 1 Infinite Loop's in-car efforts, which haven't advanced much since iPod Out. [Image credit: Steve Troughton-Smith, YouTube]
Volvo announces new 'human machine interface' and it looks a lot like a tablet (video)
Tesla isn't the only automaker with a tablet-like center console. Volvo's latest "human machine interface" will debut at next week's Geneva Motor Show -- however, it could be a bit simpler than what we've seen from the competition. The screen is divided into tiles, with navigation, media and vehicle info up top and secondary features including phone and climate controls further down. As Volvo tells it, this reduces visual noise, keeps typical controls where you would expect them to be and makes using them while driving safer as a result. Climate control remains the default screen but should you select another function, you'll still have access to it onscreen. In fact this goes for all functions: when another tile is selected, it expands to cover a bigger area, but other controls remain accessible on a smaller scale. The outfit says the tech will arrive in its XC90 crossover SUV this fall.
