Volvo unveils new pedestrian and cyclist protection on buses

I can see your point, I view it differently. These systems while passive mainly, could probably save the driver and potential other party from having an accident, either by poor judgement or unseen movement. Only time will tell if Volvo crash statistics fall, they seem very positive about having no fatalities from their cars by 2020. Lets hope so

A concern with all these systems is that they encourage the driver to be lazy.

When 100% automated transport is a reality then perhaps yes its a good thing, until then? It's a risk.

I feel slightly uncomfortable with the term "unprotected road users". Am I the only one? It sounds a little bit like "road users who have foolishly turned down the option of using one of our steel cages, at their own risk." Am I being oversensitive? 

I reckon this kind of technology is the short term benefit from the, ahem, drive to autonomous cars. Road traffic accident rates and fatalities in the UK have dropped dramatically in the last 20 years for all groups except....cyclists. A lot of this is due to the introduction of passive and active technologies designed to protect car occupants and mandatory protection for pedestrians in low speed collisions. All the tech in the world is not going to stop the pathologically aggressive driver with a manual override, but I'd like to think that most RTAs are caused by people who went out with no intent to harm anyone and this kind of technology will help them.

I have the latest Volvo car with its pedestrian and cycle safety features. I tried today adaptive autocruise behind a cyclist, it detected the rider and slowed down to their speed and kept the distance(2 second rule) Volvo is supposed to slam on the anchors in the event a pedestrian or cyclist crosses the path of my car. Don't fancy trying that one out, hopefully I never will but it's nice to know there are systems on board that should intervene in an emergency.

Update. Whilst waiting for a pedestrian to cross a zebra crossing. The first pedestrian went across, but just as I was moving off another pedestrian decided to dart for a quick crossing. Before I had chance to press the brake the car jolted to a stop. So Volvo tech in that instance reacted faster than me.

"Dubbed the Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection System, the technology relies on a camera to scan the bus' surroundings and then an image-processing system and algorithms to detect pedestrians and cyclists. If the danger is low, the bus emits a sound in a frequency designed to cause minimal disruption. But if there is a real and immediate risk of an accident, the horn is automatically activated."

A few plumber's vans in my area already activiate the horn when a cyclist is in the vicinity!

Serious point though, credit to Volvo for taking a lead on this. 360 degree camera on large vehicles is a great idea, with or without the image processing add-on.

Does the driver see the boxes shown as a heads-up display of a potential risk along with the non-disruptive alerts to the other road users? If not then this is just another technology that is victim blaming. That said, this would still be a technology improvement.

For all the barrage of negative press we get regarding cycle safety, it seems easy to forget this sort of thing is happening with a frequency bordering on monotony now.

Excellent. Let's hope other manufacturers roll out similar systems to other dangerous vehicles - might well save a few lives.