In addition to the three new active safety features that will be first available on the 2015 XC90, Volvo is said to be currently working on a driver awareness monitoring system that can recognise specific drivers, monitoring their behaviour, and activate safety technologies if necessary.

Volvo in-car safety technology

The new safety monitoring system is called ‘Driver State Estimation’, and using infrared light, sensors mounted to the dashboard in front of the driver can monitor aspects such as the direction in which the driver is looking, how open their eyes are, as well as their head position and angle. Volvo says that the LEDs that shine an infrared light at the driver that the system monitors, are just outside the wavelengths visible to the human eye – meaning the technology will work without disturbing the driver.

If the system detects that the driver is not paying attention and is at risk of crashing, the lane keeping, collision warning with automatic braking, and adaptive cruise functions will intervene automatically.

“This means the driver will be able to rely a bit more on their car, and know that it will help them when needed,” explains Per Landfors, engineer at Volvo Cars and project leader for driver support functions.

“Since the car is able to detect if a driver is not paying attention, safety systems can be adapted more effectively. For example, the car’s support systems can be activated later on if the driver is focused, and earlier if the driver’s attention is directed elsewhere.”

Volvo said the system would be able to recognize points on a person’s face to identify them, emphasising that these systems aren’t capable of photographing the driver, nor do they have any kind of driver surveillance function.

This technology is one of the many initiatives bringing Volvo Cars closer to its goal for 2020 – that no one shall be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo.

The company hasn’t announced a timeline for when the system could work its way into vehicles marketed to the public, but said today that it has already installed it in some of its test vehicles.