Monday 10th May 2010

VIDEO: Volvo Auto-Brake Doesn't...

Volvo's robot braking system crashes into truck at official media demo

---

Volvo's new S60 spectacularly failed to impress media rounded-up for a demo of its auto-braking system last week, a driverless car smashing into the back of the truck it was supposed to be slowing down to miss.

PR disasters don't get much better than this, and thanks to the magic of YouTube the whole world is now enjoying Volvo's 'epic fail'.

Apparently, says the company, the fault that caused the accident would have been spotted if there had been a human at the wheel and the car's electronics hadn't been left in charge. Oh well, that's all right then...

(PS. In an ironic twist of fate, the story we posted about this on the homepage on Friday only survived for an hour and a half before technical problems caused its untimely demise. Sorry for that - here it is again!)

[just me]

Haha that's great!!!!

Epic fail is right. Who likes stubby, staid Volvos anyways? They should leave that system in as is...it will help their cars look better, and accurately reflect their typical drivers' skill level too!

Edited by just me on Monday 10th May 07:15

[y2blade]

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...


I saw this system demonstrated last year using a inflatable car...

...the outcome was the same

Edited by y2blade on Monday 10th May 07:21

[SS2.]

Classic..

[Scuffers]

seem to remember Merc had a similarly epic fail on a test they did with Journalists

[petrolsniffer]

FAIL

Do we really need tech such as this??

[The Riddler]

petrolsniffer said:

FAIL

Do we really need tech such as this??

The way some people drive, I'd say there is a market for it.

That said, I'd never have any use for such a system, although I'd have some fun trying it out.

A simpler solution could be giant magnets on every vehicle, set up so they repel rather than attract.

[Captain Flashman]

Shinny gold Volvo, ₤35,000
High end R & D, ₤untold millions

Making your whole corporation the butt of every joke for an entire week’s news cycle… Priceless

[Westy Pre-Lit]

Windows OS ?

[Mannginger]

Mongs!

[Vipers]

Aint got sound on work PC, so don't know what the guy said at the end, but I always thought these gizmo's only worked at slow speeds, looked like the car travelling 30 ish?

[y2blade]

Vipers said:

Aint got sound on work PC, so don't know what the guy said at the end, but I always thought these gizmo's only worked at slow speeds, looked like the car travelling 30 ish?

the Demo we had last year was 20mph, with the same end result

[fathomfive]

y2blade said:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...


I saw this system demonstrated last year using a inflatable car...

...the outcome was the same

Edited by y2blade on Monday 10th May 07:21

You weren't blown away by it then?

[y2blade]

fathomfive said:

y2blade said:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...


I saw this system demonstrated last year using a inflatable car...

...the outcome was the same

Edited by y2blade on Monday 10th May 07:21

You weren't blown away by it then?

OUT!!!!

[fathomfive]

y2blade said:

fathomfive said:

y2blade said:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...


I saw this system demonstrated last year using a inflatable car...

...the outcome was the same

Edited by y2blade on Monday 10th May 07:21

You weren't blown away by it then?

OUT!!!!

[ads_green]

Scuffers said:

seem to remember Merc had a similarly epic fail on a test they did with Journalists

That was even funnier - it failed twice. The first crash cause by they forgot to actually activate the system. By the time they got a second spare car setup it had got a bit foggy and the system got confused and failed again.

[jamoor]

Would we be talking about it if it was completely successful?

[JohnnyHayward]

ads_green said:

Scuffers said:

seem to remember Merc had a similarly epic fail on a test they did with Journalists

That was even funnier - it failed twice. The first crash cause by they forgot to actually activate the system. By the time they got a second spare car setup it had got a bit foggy and the system got confused and failed again.

The fog wasn't to blame, the test was done indoors which was the reason for the apparent failure

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=96&...

[MarkRSi]

Perhaps it activated the auto-wipers instead of the auto-brake

[Vipers]

jamoor said:

Would we be talking about it if it was completely successful?

Human nature, we all critisise the ONE idiot we met on the way to work, but not a mention of the other zillions of the rest of the polite, good drivers.

But it keeps us busy instead of working

[bencollins]

I reckon the test was a 100% success.
i.e. proved you need a driver, stuff that assists the driver like ESP is great, stuff that overrides is a philosophical nono for many reasons.