Volvo reacts to its XC60 Self Parking demonstration going awry

Volvo Cars has finally given its clarification on the video of its Self Parking Demonstration going wrong where the car knocked down a man during the trial.

The manufacturer of the ‘safest cars in the world’ is in news again, but this time the reason is anything but good. During the demonstration of Volvo’s Self Parking feature, a Volvo XC60 SUV runs into a human being head-on giving him no time to react. The video ended too soon without letting the viewers know if the damages were life threatening or not, and more importantly, if Volvo no longer makes the ‘safest cars on the planet earth.’

Volvo has issued a clarification on the entire episode and has blamed ‘human error’ for this accident. According to the Swedish carmaker, “The car was being driven by a human being. Moreover, this vehicle was not fitted with Pedestrian Detection, a Volvo safety system designed to identify pedestrians and apply a vehicle’s brakes. Instead, this vehicle was fitted with a feature called City Safety, which is standard in all Volvos. This system contributes to safer driving in heavy city traffic by avoiding or mitigating rear end collisions with other vehicles in low speeds by braking. There was nothing wrong with the car itself. The unfortunate incident happened only due to human error.”

With this statement Volvo has also emphasised on the fact that the City Safety feature is not designed to spot human beings in the vicinity of the car, but to pre-calculate and avoid the rear end collisions with other cars.