Volvo cameras will start monitoring YOU with the new XC90 – ‘Distraction Mitigation’

When the new Volvo XC90 arrives in the next two years Volvo will monitor driver behaviors with cameras to mitigate inevitable distractions.

If you listen to Road Safety ‘Experts’ you’d think that the only way to keep a driver focussed on the task of safely piloting a vehicle is to wrap them in a bubble, away from the distractions of people, gadgets and, well, anything.

But in the real world, where most driving is a boring chore, it’s the distractions which keep us alert, from fiddling with the Air Con to changing the music or having a chat with passengers. Not that you’d expect such a safety obsessed car maker as Volvo to agree with that. But it seems they do.

Malin Ekholm, Volvo’s Head of Car Safety, has ben espousing on driving distractions during the first Volvo Studio Talk where he said:

It is easy to think that phones and screens are the only scourge of the modern driver, but life as a whole is distracting. We know people do not get distracted on purpose, but it happens.

The reality is that people want to engage with friends, family, work and entertainment, and everyone responds differently to distraction,so we want to meet our customers where they are, not where we want them to be. That is why our focus is on using technology in the right way, so we can use it to help you stay safe behind the wheel.

Accepting distractions are a fact, and can be a benefit, is a very sensible position for Volvo, so rather than seeing Volvo in-car cameras to monitor driver behaviour – which will be introduced when the new XC90 goes on sale in 2022 – as ‘Big Brother’ we can consider them a safety aid to mitigate bad distractions.

That means the car potentially intervening – and even parking the car up safely – if it decides you’re tired, behaving oddly or even had a glass or two of something not conducive to competent driving, as well more advanced voice control coming (and already here on the XC40 Recharge with Android O/S) to help you do the stuff you want with simple voice commands.