Volvo to Offer 'Drowsy Driver' Warning

By Tom Incantalupo \ Newsday
December 1, 2005

Volvo said Wednesday it will market a sophisticated system to warn drivers who are nodding off at the wheel or driving badly because of a distraction like a cell phone or a misbehaving child.

 It will even rate their driving consistency. 



 The system, due within two years, uses a windshield-mounted video camera linked to a computer, to sense a deterioration in the driver's ability to control the vehicle. Then it will alert the driver with an audible "ding" and flash the symbol of a coffee cup and the message "Driver attention." 



 Volvo spokesman Daniel Johnston in New Jersey said the system could be offered as standard equipment or an option on the next generation of the company's flagship S80 sedan, going on sale next year as an '07 model. The price hasn't been set, he said. 



 About 100,000 crashes in the United States each year are caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel, Volvo said, citing U.S. government statistics. 



 Volvo, the Swedish unit of Ford Motor Co., says its system goes further than lane-departure warning options because Volvo's system can determine inattentive driving even if lane markers are not breached. "During our tests, the system never once missed a driver who was falling asleep at the wheel," Wolfgang Birk, project manager for the system, said in a statement. 



 Lane-departure systems are offered in the United States in Nissan's Infiniti FX sport utility vehicles and Q45 and M sedans and in Japan in the Toyota Lexus GS 430 and Crown Majesta sedans. 



 Other, mostly experimental, systems to warn drowsy drivers have focused on whether the driver's eyes are fully open, but Volvo says such systems usually issue warnings after the driver has fallen asleep and can be confused by certain eye shapes.

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