Volvo to enable radar-based safety systems on S90, XC90 in India

Swedish carmaker Volvo will offer radar-based safety systems on the upcoming S90 sedan and is working towards enabling such features on the XC90 SUV that's currently being sold in India, following the delicensing of some radar frequency bands by the government.

With a launch scheduled for September, the S90 sedan will be the first car to get radar-based safety in India. The XC90 for India, however, had some of the radar-based safety features disabled due to the radar frequency restrictions which were in place at the time of the car's launch. Earlier, car manufacturers couldn’t equip their cars with these systems since the frequency spectrums were reserved and regulated by the Department of Telecommunications.

In late 2015, the government delicensed frequency bands in the range of 36-38 MHz, 433-434.79 MHz, 302-351 kHz and 76-77 GHz in an effort to enhance safety and connectivity features in vehicles. “It will be a big improvement in the Indian market as we get into several possibilities with opening of frequencies,” Jan Ivarsson, Deputy Director and Senior Technical Advisor Safety at Volvo Cars told Autocar India.

“Our radar-based safety systems are offered as standard kit in the XC90 but are disabled for the Indian market, as per government norms. The forward radar hardware is there in the new XC90 and these systems can be enabled via a software update,” Tom von Bonsdorff, managing director, Volvo Auto India told Autocar India.

Features such as pedestrian and cyclist detection, automatic braking, lane keeping assist, blind spot information system and adaptive cruise control could be offered, according to Bonsdorff.

Volvo is in talks with the government to get the official clearance to use the frequency. Once it is acquired, existing XC90 owners can take their cars to Volvo service centres in the country for a software update to enable the safety systems.

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