March 21, 2019—Volvo plans to add in-car driver-monitoring cameras to new vehicles in efforts to stop distracted driving. According to a report by CNET, the cameras will be added on new vehicles using Volvo's SPA2 platform starting in the early 2020s.
According to Volvo, camera footage will not leave the vehicle, CNET reports.
"We're not streaming any videos, we're not storing any videos," Armin Kesedzic, Volvo product owner for vision sensors, told Roadshow.
The system has the ability to check for both distracted behavior and intoxication, where it can pick up on long periods without steering, weaving lanes, slow reaction times, and also closed eyes. The camera will monitor where a driver's eyes are pointed, and the system can determine if the vehicle is being operated properly.
According to CNET, if Volvo detects the driver is not operating the vehicle properly, the system could limit the speed or call the Volvo on call service. Lastly, the vehicle could slow the car down and park itself.
"When it comes to safety, our aim is to avoid accidents altogether rather than limit the impact when an accident is imminent and unavoidable," says Henrik Green, Volvo Cars' senior vice president of research and development, in a statement."In this case, cameras will monitor for behavior that may lead to serious injury or death."
