Even More Safety Systems on Trucks

Now that the level of electronic control has reached its current level, we are going to see even more safety systems on trucks.

The big ticket items in electronic safety systems are already with us, available now and some are mandated in 2025. The introduction of automatic emergency braking (AEB) is bound to save lives, injury and loss, stability control is already mandated, blind spot radar warning of vehicles on the nearside of the truck are also becoming more and more available on the modern models.

Then there’s others, like lane keeping assistance, adaptive cruise control which are using the video and radar of those other safety systems to offer extra safety features.

The new safety features from Volvo which are featured on this video are:

Front Short Range Assist 

A front radar and camera are used to detect if someone is in front of the truck. Using a visual and sound signal, the system warns the driver if there is imminent risk of a collision.

Intelligent Speed Assist

This feature keeps the driver informed about speed limits by detecting road speed signs and displaying the limit on the instrument panel. The system displays the speed limit for the actual vehicle combination and also warns, with both visuals and sound alerts, if the speed limit is exceeded.

This feature is not going to be available globally, but may well make it to Ausrtralia. Systems like this, which PowerTorque has tested before in Australia, can be a bit hit and miss on our roads.

Door Opening Warning

This system, which is available on both sides of the truck, will warn if a moving object such as a pedestrian, cyclist or car is approaching from behind in the monitored area, on the same side of the truck where the door is opened. The system is active when the truck is at a standstill, and for two minutes after the engine or motor has been switched off.