WOW.

Volvo... I wonder how many lives were saved thanks to them?

Would have been better if they'd used a ford pinto as the car.

Only if the breaks failed

Hope the gas tanker behind the Volvo also has some sort of nifty brake.

It's OK because - like all lorry drivers - he'll be leaving a safe gap between himself and the lorry in front...

I've had to personally pull the bleeding mangled body of a lorry driver - who was driving too close to the lorry in front when it braked - from his cab. He survived, but by luck alone.

Personally I think stuff like this is fantastic. I've got a simple little VW Polo and the ESP system is incredibly clever. It's nigh on impossible to get it to spin or do anything it shouldn't do.

Lots of people complain about stuff like this and say it takes control away from the driver, as if that's a bad thing. Computers are a hell of a lot better at it than humans!

I used to drive 1,000+ Km's between states, and the vast majority of truck drivers were much safer than car drivers.
I like this because the number of car drivers that I have seen pull out right in front of a truck and drive slowly, not acknowledging that it takes trucks much longer to slow down or stop was shocking.

Given they invented the three-point seatbelt and then made it an open patent so all other car manufacturers could use it for free, I'd say they've saved a few.

Impressive

Skeptical...

How well does this work when the trailer is fully loaded? Still impressive, but I want to see it done with a fully loaded trailer.

Also, I wouldn't want to be the driver of the white car. It's one thing when it is a dummy car sitting on the track, but then to drive an actual car and be ready to be hit..

This truck is fully loaded. According to the description and Volvo's comments on youtube it weighs 40 tons.

I wouldn't have thought the traction would be there to break that fast. I couldn't have stopped the old semi I drove that quickly (with or without warnings). Granted, that was a few decades back though.

Physics must be more flexible than I thought.

I would imagine the trailer has to be equipped with ABS as well, mean this is an entire package and you can't "hook up" with any old trailer.

so for the internship I get to drive a brand new white Volvo?! Fantastic! ...... oh wait.

<Clarkson>
POWEEEEEER!!
</Clarkson>

*promote the science!

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Saturday, January 19th, 2013 6:31am PST - promote requested by JiggaJonson.

That's because of programmers.

Source: I'm a programmer. We're awesome.

From the speedo I'd say they were doing 80km/h? That is fucking impressive in anyone's book. What's more impressive is that you probably have a usable truck afterwards.

Reminds me of that tablesaw that makes it impossible to cut off your finger due to emergency braking. If it saves one life it's worth it. Hell, if the truck only hits you at 15 instead of 80, you've already substantially increased everyone's chance of living...