Volvo built its reputation through safety innovations. The three-pointed seatbelt, introduced into series production with the PV544, comes to mind. The Swedish manufacturer also prides itself on the rollout of the rearward-facing child seat in 1972, booster cushion in 1978, integrated booster cushion in 1990, inflatable curtain in 1998, blind-spot information system in 2003, and City Safety AEB in 2008.
Currently owned by Chinese automaker Geely, the Swedish manufacturer introduced pedestrian detection with full auto braking in 2010. Ten years later, Volvo capped all of its production models to 180 kilometers per hour, a.k.a. 112 miles per hour, in a bid to achieve zero traffic fatalities.
The EX90 builds on these innovations with a slew of new features. Volvo’s safest car yet is equipped with “an invisible shield of safety” that comprises radar and ultrasonic sensors, cameras, and lidar. These peripherals are connected to high-performance computers, and the NVIDIA DRIVE Orin autonomous driving platform runs in-house software to create a 360-degree view of the electric sport utility vehicle's surroundings.
Arguably the most important piece of safety tech is the lidar system that’s designed to sense the road in front of the vehicle, be it day or night, at both low and high speeds. Lidar, which is actually an acronym for light detection and ranging, basically combines 3D and laser scanning. Lidar is standard regardless of trim level, powertrain option, and battery capacity.
The roof-mounted lidar can spot pedestrians 250 meters (273 yards) in front of the all-electric sport utility vehicle, with Volvo expecting this system to reduce cut accidents resulting in serious injury or death by 20 percent. Lidar could also reduce the rate of all accidents by 9 percent. Tech company Luminar supplies the lidar system for the all-new EX90.
Lidar can detect small objects in front of the vehicle. On the inside, sensors and cameras monitor the driver’s eyes to understand if the driver is drowsy or distracted. If the driver does not react to the car’s warnings, the zero-emission sport utility vehicle will stop by itself, then call for help.
On an ending note, the Swedish automaker claims that the heir apparent of the XC90 is hardware-ready for unsupervised driving in the future.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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