The new Golf can help the driver to avoid accidents thanks to its innovative Car2X technology, which wirelessly connects it to other cars and the infrastructure. The Euro NCAP consortium has now honored the “hazard warning” function with the “Advanced Award”, a special award for pioneering safety equipment. The ADAC has tested the new technology and describes it as a “technical milestone”.
“This is an exciting area of driving safety,” explains Michiel van Ratingen, Euro NCAP general secretary. “Volkswagen deserves congratulations for making this technology the standard in cars like the Golf, which are sold in large quantities.”
The wireless standard WLANp is behind the Car2X technology, which the new Golf is the first car to have as standard on the EU markets. This is specially tailored to local communication between vehicles and does not require a mobile network, so it works across the board within the system limits.
The networked vehicles exchange position data and information directly with each other within a radius of up to 800 meters. As a result, they can warn each other of dangers within milliseconds or contact the transport infrastructure.
The ADAC automobile club has tested Volkswagen’s Car2X technology. To do this, he sent the new Golf to eight typical dangerous situations in which drivers could not react at all or only very late without warning. In all of these situations, the car gave a timely and reliable warning, often ten or eleven seconds before the impending accident. The ADAC has evaluated the new Volkswagen technology, which has been certified by TÜV, as follows: It can be described as a “technical milestone” and can be compared to systems such as ABS or airbags.
In the first stage, which Volkswagen is now putting on the road with the new Golf, Car2X technology is active at speeds of over 80 km / h. In the future it will also improve safety in city traffic. It also has great advantages when the car communicates with the traffic light systems in its vicinity – this enables the flow of traffic to be better controlled and the environment to be relieved.
Car2X technology enables swarm intelligence in the local environment and gets better the more participants are involved. That is why Volkswagen will now roll them out broadly: after the Golf, they will receive further new models from the brand as standard. Other car manufacturers are also working on this issue.
The Euro NCAP Advanced Award is an award for groundbreaking safety equipment. It was introduced in 2010, but has not been awarded since 2014. Volkswagen has already been awarded five times for its innovative driver assistance and safety systems. Now the award for the “Hazard warning” function using Car2X technology further enhances the strong safety performance of the new Golf: By the end of 2019, the compact had already achieved the top rating of five stars in the classic Euro NCAP test. The Euro NCAP organization plans to include Car2X technology in this rating in the future.
