POC and ericsson partner to create volvo car connected cycle helmet

POC and ericsson partner to create volvo car connected cycle helmet
images courtesy of volvo cars

the ‘connected cycle helmet’ developed in partnership between volvo cars, ericsson and the sports gear manufacturer, POC, aims to end crashes betweens vehicles and bikes. revealing accident data such as ‘50% of all cyclists killed in european traffic have collided with a car’ and ‘nearly 50,000 cyclist fatalities and injuries in the US every year’, the companies demonstrated the life-saving wearable technology at the CES 2015. the concept establishes a two-way communication that utilizes proximity alerts in order to notify the cyclist and driver of imminent collisions. by warning the car passengers and the cyclist through a helmet-mounted alert light, the necessary actions to avoid the potential accident can be made.

building upon the standard volvo cars’ ‘city safety system’ in the new ‘XC90’, klas bendrik, the VP and group CIO at volvo cars commented: ‘the partnership between volvo cars, POC and ericsson is an important milestone in investigating the next steps towards volvo cars’ vision to build cars that will not crash. but now, by exploring cloud-based safety systems, we are getting ever closer to eliminating the remaining blind spots between cars and cyclists and by that avoid collisions.’

the connected wearable technology was on show at the 2015 CES

simulated view of the cyclist when a notification is recieved

the mounted lights alert the wearer of imminent collisions so that the necessary actions can be carried out

rear view of the product