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€54.5m active safety testing site opens in Sweden

AstaZero test facility opened in Gothenburg by Volvo to develop active safety technology.


A new proving ground that aims to reduce road casualties has opened near Gothenburg, Sweden, which, as you probably know, is very close to Volvo's headquarters. The Swedish car company has already stated that it wants no one to be killed or seriously injured in its new cars by the year 2020, which is a challenging but noble target.

Built at a cost of 500 million Swedish krona (around €54.5m), AstaZero is the world's first full-scale proving ground explicitly for future traffic safety solutions. Volvo will be developing a full suite of active safety systems using AstaZero's facilities, which include the ability to construct unique, customised environments for testing. AstaZero's CEO Pether Wallin added: "You can simulate all types of real-world traffic scenarios. At most proving grounds, the options are more limited."

The centre can accommodate a wide range of test conditions, such as those found on busy city roads, highways, multilane motorways and crossroads. Studies can be made into the way cars interact with other moving obstacles and in complex traffic situations and high-speed simulations robots will operate the test vehicles.

"Safety testing under realistic circumstances is a prerequisite for developing our active safety systems," said Anders Axelson, of Volvo Cars' Safety Centre. "The facility will play several important roles - not only will it help us meet our safety vision, developing cars that don't crash, it will also help us further develop safety functions that will address non-motorists, such as pedestrians and cyclists."

The work at AstaZero will also include the development and testing of autonomous driving technology, an intelligent driver support system designed to reduce accidents while supposedly improving the driving experience. Advanced systems are also under way to further help prevent, for example, inattentiveness and driver fatigue.

Anything else?
It is known as AstaZero because it is the Active Safety Test Area that will hopefully lead to zero traffic fatalities one day in the future. Axelson explained: "The Swedish automotive industry is at the leading edge of active safety. Thanks to AstaZero, we have great prospects for keeping our leading position. We're the only car manufacturing company in the world to have set a goal of zero traffic fatalities for a specific date, and we're the only country in the world whose government supports a zero traffic fatalities vision."

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Published on August 21, 2014