Connected vehicles are now providing drivers with automatic advance warning of potentially dangerous driving conditions on the road ahead.
As part of an agreement led by the Data for Road Safety partnership, backed by the European Commission, connected vehicles from manufacturers including Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo are actively sharing live road-safety information with each other.
Ford has introduced Local Hazard Information with its new Ford Puma in early 2020 to warn drivers about road safety dangers that might be around the corner. Since then, the brand has been enabling the feature on other newly built Fords in Europe, including the all-new Kuga.
“Connected vehicles help drivers to anticipate hazards that may be lurking just around the next bend,” Ford Europe’s Manager of Connected Vehicles Peter Geffers said.
“Road-safety data sharing ecosystems are more effective the more vehicles and telematics sources they include; extending the benefits of this technology to those who do not drive Ford cars represents a significant step forward.”
Ford’s system uses onboard vehicle data – such as airbag activation, emergency braking or fog light use – to automatically determine the presence and location of potential hazards. Relevant warnings are aggregated anonymously and appear on the dashboard display of vehicles in the vicinity of the potential hazard.
As well as warning other drivers, the information can be used to alert emergency services, providing accurate location data in seconds to help accelerate assistance.
You can watch a list of AfMA safety videos here, which cover explanatory videos about technologies, such as lane keep assist, electronic stability control, autonomous emergency braking and more.
