Skip advert
Advertisement

BMW, Ford, Mercedes and Volvo to share live road safety data car-to-car

Pilot project will see cars share data warning of slippery roads and vehicles with active hazard warning lights

Volvo, Mercedes, BMW and Ford have joined forces for a European safety project that will see cars from the four companies share anonymised road safety data with each other.

The initiative will see cars send alerts to a cloud database that is accessible to all members of the scheme, enabling safety data collected by a BMW, for example, to be accessed by a following Mercedes.

Advertisement - Article continues below

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_wide_no_sidebar_second","fid":"251666","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"280","width":"420"}}]]

In practice, this means that when a driver activates their hazard warning lights, or makes an emergency call via eCall, this information will be sent anonymously to a cloud server before being relayed to the infotainment systems of other vehicles in the vicinity. 

BMW will be the first company to make its safety data freely accessible, confirming that customer's cars will ask them if they want to share anonymous data from 1 July, though BMW and MINI owners will be able to opt out of the scheme at any time. The firm says its cars will be able to send out warnings for broken-down vehicles, poor visibility and wet or icy roads and that “going forward, every BMW and MINI driver who provides anonymised data will be helping improve overall road safety.”

Skip advert
Advertisement
Skip advert
Advertisement - Article continues below

Mercedes will also be taking part in the project, though its parent company, Daimler, says "will only use the test fleet for the project - no customer data will be collected."

Volvo’s Hazard Light Alert system, meanwhile, will send out alerts when a driver activates their hazard warning lights, while the firm’s Slippery Road Alert system will generate warnings when low-grip conditions are detected. Earlier in the year, Volvo announced all its cars would share safety information with each other from 2020, with the firm stressing at the time that it was keen for other carmakers to follow suit.

As well as four key carmakers, the scheme will see navigation firms HERE and TomTom help gather, anonymise and transmit the data to other road users. The project begin in the Netherlands before branching out to Germany, Spain, Finland, Sweden and Luxembourg.

Christoph Grote, senior vice-president of electronics at BMW, said “we are proud to blaze this trail with our partners. When it comes to road safety, there are no competitors, only partners.” Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson echoed those sentiments, saying: “We think this type of anonymised data sharing should be done for free, for the greater good and to the wider benefit of society. It saves lives, time and taxpayer money”.

Skip advert
Advertisement
Skip advert
Advertisement

Recommended

Best tow cars to buy 2024
Best tow cars to buy 2023 - header
Best cars & vans

Best tow cars to buy 2024

There’s more to towing a car than just hitching up a caravan. Check out these tow car stars to pick what’s right for you
3 Jan 2024
Volvo V60 review
Volvo V60 - front
In-depth reviews

Volvo V60 review

If you want a luxurious and spacious estate, the Volvo V60 offers a relaxed alternative to German rivals
24 May 2023

Most Popular

Huge Audi new car blitz to bring us 9 models in 2 years
Upcoming Audi models - four-way image
News

Huge Audi new car blitz to bring us 9 models in 2 years

After a quiet few years, the German giant is gearing up for its biggest product onslaught to date
25 Mar 2024
Posh new trim level for Dacia Sandero while the Sandero Stepway gets more power
Dacia Sandero - front
News

Posh new trim level for Dacia Sandero while the Sandero Stepway gets more power

Both the Sandero and Sandero Stepway ranges have been tweaked, gaining more safety features to meet the latest regulations
26 Mar 2024
Road tax set to rise in April: here’s how much more you’ll pay
Road tax documentation
News

Road tax set to rise in April: here’s how much more you’ll pay

Drivers with newer cars can expect to be paying roughly £10 more per year, a although the biggest gas guzzlers will fare the worst
26 Mar 2024