New collision avoidance alerts that can provide warning of hazards to drivers have been introduced by Volkswagen of America. Starting later this year, the feature will be included with VW Car-Net Safe & Secure subscriptions at no extra cost for most MY24 and MY25 Volkswagen models.
Volkswagen says it is the first auto maker in the United States to integrate hazard-enhanced location protocol (HELP) and road awareness collision avoidance alerts within a suite of connected vehicle services.
When a Volkswagen vehicle is disabled on the road, the driver can activate Vehicle HELP, which will send digital alerts to certain oncoming drivers notifying them that they are approaching a disabled vehicle. Vehicle HELP can be switched on manually when the driver turns on their hazard lights or automatically when airbags deploy.
With road awareness alerts, Volkswagen drivers can receive digital notifications when they are approaching disabled vehicles or in the path of an emergency vehicle. These alerts are delivered through cellular-vehicle-to-everything (CV2X) technology and give drivers advanced warning, allowing them time to prepare for the danger on the road.
“By working with Emergency Safety Solutions to implement HELP, Volkswagen continues to deliver on our mission to help make roads safer and lead the way in automotive safety technology,” explained Frank Weith, director of engineering connected services at Volkswagen Group of America.
These features will be added to the Volkswagen Car-Net Safe & Secure plan for most MY24 and new vehicles at no cost for the first five years after the vehicle’s date of purchase. Safe & Secure allows owners to access emergency assistance through the SOS button in the vehicle, putting the driver in contact with the Volkswagen Response Center through a secure cellular connection for emergency assistance on the road.
Volkswagen’s investment in CV2X technology offers a more advanced and accurate experience than other driving applications currently on the market. While external driving apps rely on crowd-sourced data, this technology uses real-time vehicle-to-everything (V2X) data that is more accurate.
