Volvo Shares its Blind Spot Technology by Putting it in a Digital Billboard

The blind spot is one of the main causes of serious or fatal bicycle accidents. To prevent this, Volvo released the first blind spot detector on the market back in 2004. Like all Volvo innovations, this one is not patented, enabling any car manufacturer to equip their models with it. With the increasing number of cyclists in cities (+64% by 2020) and the rising number of accidents (+16% by 2020), Volvo is reviving the importance of its BLIS (Blind Spot Information) system. But instead of advertising it, Belgian advertising agency FamousGrey and Volvo chose to equip their advertising with it so that everyone can benefit from it.

On Brussels' busiest road, Volvo installed a digital display equipped with a blind spot detector. Similar to the sensor that Volvo car models are equipped with, this detector detects and warns car drivers about the presence of cyclists.

The display not only shows a blind spot warning, but also counts the distance between the cyclist and the display in real time. To ensure the warning works 24 hours a day, the digital display is programmed to switch to a day or night version.  

An idea that fits the DNA of Volvo perfectly, as Lolita Swanet, marketing manager at Volvo, concludes: '"Making each driver a Safer Driver" is the central premise of our Salon campaign, but it is also why Volvo has always been an innovator. With this idea, we're making the road a lot safer, for everyone.”