Utter failiure: Volvo demonstrates new safety system.

[mzziaz]

The big day. 150 journalists invited. Volvo is about to demonstrate its new revolutionary safety system that will brake the car automatically to avoid crash.

The result:


Video of the crash found here.
http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/05/06/tema/bil/bilindustrien/bil_og_trafikk/sikkerhet/11614870/
It must be fun to be the PR guy at Volvo on a day like that  

[Cookie Monster]

LOL!

[ifcar]

Mercedes did the same thing when they tried to demonstrate similar technology on the S-Class several years ago.

[565]

Mercedes did the same thing when they tried to demonstrate similar technology on the S-Class several years ago.

Except Mercedes tried to fake it because they knew their system wasn't working.  Then managed to fail on the fraud.  That's like double Fail.

[ifcar]

Except Mercedes tried to fake it because they knew their system wasn't working.  Then managed to fail on the fraud.  That's like double Fail.

I must have missed or forgotten that part of the story.

[565]

I must have missed or forgotten that part of the story.

It's a hilarious read.

http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/ArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=10734&vf=23

[Submariner]

You would think they would test this beforehand...

[Laconian]

The big day. 150 journalists invited. Volvo is about to demonstrate its new revolutionary safety system that will brake the car automatically to avoid crash.

The result:


Video of the crash found here.
http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/05/06/tema/bil/bilindustrien/bil_og_trafikk/sikkerhet/11614870/
It must be fun to be the PR guy at Volvo on a day like that 

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/05/06/tema/bil/bilindustrien/bil_og_trafikk/sikkerhet/11614870/&sl=no&tl=en

[cawimmer430]

Except Mercedes tried to fake it because they knew their system wasn't working.  Then managed to fail on the fraud.  That's like double Fail.

AFAIK the system was turned off during the test and the journalist driving the car didn't know about it. The radar waves supposedly also didn't reflect back properly given that the car was tested in an all-metal factory building.

[Speed_Racer]

This also happened to Volvo when they tested CitySafety for some journalists, but it only ran into an inflatable car.

[ifcar]

AFAIK the system was turned off during the test and the journalist driving the car didn't know about it. The radar waves supposedly also didn't reflect back properly given that the car was tested in an all-metal factory building.

According to the article, the system was turned off and the journalist driver did know about it and was collaborating with MB to make everyone think the system was working.

[mzziaz]

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/05/06/tema/bil/bilindustrien/bil_og_trafikk/sikkerhet/11614870/&sl=no&tl=en

It does Norwegian too!
Google translation is fucking awesome. Babelfish sucks compared to it. 

[Raza]

Lesson to be learned:  When driving a car, drive the fucking car. 

[Tave]

From the sounds of the article, this was but one minor experiment in a much larger safety exhibition staged at the Volvo test grounds. The engineers didn't expect it to be the main event, nor work properly. I.e. no one knew what was going to happen; they just wanted to throw some spaghetti at the wall to see if it would stick.

[cawimmer430]

According to the article, the system was turned off and the journalist driver did know about it and was collaborating with MB to make everyone think the system was working.

The weird thing about that event is that I can't seem to find a defining answer anywhere. Some say the driver didn't brake on time, some say the radar waves got scattered, some say the system failed, some say...

I really have no clue what really happened there. It didn't harm the sales of the S-Class though. And that embarrassing event seems all but forgotten now.

[Cookie Monster]

The weird thing about that event is that I can't seem to find a defining answer anywhere. Some say the driver didn't brake on time, some say the radar waves got scattered, some say the system failed, some say...

I really have no clue what really happened there. It didn't harm the sales of the S-Class though. And that embarrassing event seems all but forgotten now.

No, the defining answer is in the article but you don't want to read it.

[Onslaught]

Lesson to be learned:  When driving a car, drive the fucking car. 

Thank you. I don't want that shit in my car.

That and I don't want cars to have it. Will cut down on my work!

[mzziaz]

Thank you. I don't want that shit in my car.

That and I don't want cars to have it. Will cut down on my work!

It doesn't seem to be much to worry about yet. Any news on your (possible) job?

[MX793]

"Brake", "break"....  Obviously just a phonetic misunderstanding.

[cawimmer430]

No, the defining answer is in the article but you don't want to read it.

[CJ]

I believe the system wasn't activated at the time.  I think that's what I read on Jalopnik or the Volvo fan page on FB.

[MX793]

No, the defining answer is in the article but you don't want to read it.

Did YOU read the article?  Because based on what's there, the system worked when tested outdoors, but when inside the confines of the metal building that they were holding the demo in the radar would not work (radar beam was getting screwed up by the surrounding metal).  Realizing this, Mercedes opted to run the demo anyway, but got the press test driver to play along and fake it.

[Onslaught]

I believe the system wasn't activated at the time.  I think that's what I read on Jalopnik or the Volvo fan page on FB.

Well that makes them just as dumb. Or even more so.

[Tave]

Did YOU read the article?  Because based on what's there, the system worked when tested outdoors, but when inside the confines of the metal building that they were holding the demo in the radar would not work (radar beam was getting screwed up by the surrounding metal).  Realizing this, Mercedes opted to run the demo anyway, but got the press test driver to play along and fake it.

That's exactly what 565 said:

Except Mercedes tried to fake it because they knew their system wasn't working.  Then managed to fail on the fraud.  That's like double Fail.

Then Wimmer responded that the journalist was an innocent party in the whole debacle:

AFAIK the system was turned off during the test and the journalist driving the car didn't know about it.

Then Ifcar responded:

According to the article, the system was turned off and the journalist driver did know about it and was collaborating with MB to make everyone think the system was working.

Then Wimmer said that:

The weird thing about that event is that I can't seem to find a defining answer anywhere. Some say the driver didn't brake on time, some say the radar waves got scattered, some say the system failed, some say...

Obviously, as you pointed out, the article supplies all that information. Mercedes couldn't get the system to work inside their testing facility, so they tried to rig it and it failed. There is no mystery here. Rags read the article and realized that, and pointed it out to Wimmer.


Did YOU read the conversation?

[MX793]

Did YOU read the conversation?

I think the answer is obviously "no"

[Tave]

[AutobahnSHO]

"But instead of slowing down, continued to smell the car into the back of your truck with a bang. "

LOL

[ifcar]

"But instead of slowing down, continued to smell the car into the back of your truck with a bang. "

LOL

Yeah, those translation tools have always provided hours of entertainment -- especially when they were still in their early stages. Feeding something in English into another language and then back to English always produced great results.

The Washington Post had a memorable contest some years ago to find some of the best mistranslations done that way (scroll down a ways to get to it): http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A39930-2004Apr24&notFound=true

Some highlights:
"Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him." > German > "Alas, bad Yorick, I could do him."
"At Ford, quality is Job One." > German > "At Fords quality is job of one."
"Google translates text with no errors." > Portuguese > "Google translates the text with nenhuns errors."

[sportyaccordy]

Were they demonstrating a new front airbag?

[VTEC_Inside]

Lol... I was thinking maybe that Volvo didn't have any power at all since I would have expected the airbags to pop, but then again the wipers were going so....