Volvo Trucks is set to roll out a cloud-based service that enables its trucks and cars to automatically alert each other to hazardous traffic situations.

Known as Connected Safety, the new service is being launched as a result of collaboration between two separate entities, Volvo Cars and Volvo Trucks.

The new safety service, which will be introduced this year starting in Sweden and Norway, allows Volvo’s cars and trucks to share real-time traffic hazard information to help prevent accidents.

Volvo Trucks said that the Connected Safety service will tap an existing cloud-based service launched by Volvo Cars in 2016.

Volvo Trucks traffic and product safety director Carl Johan Almqvist said: “Expanded cooperation between different players is one of the most important keys to improved road safety. If more vehicles are able to exchange real-time information about the traffic situation, it will lower the risk of accidents.

“With Connected Safety we are opening the door to the future, with the hope that more vehicle manufacturers will join in.”

“With Connected Safety we are opening the door to the future, with the hope that more vehicle manufacturers will join in.”

The alert service enables the cars to anonymously send out warnings to other cars connected to the cloud service whenever the hazard lights are switched on. This is especially useful on blind corners and over the crest of hills in the road.

With the addition of Volvo Trucks’ fleet, Connected Safety will be able to cover a wider area, identify more potential hazards and thereby improve overall traffic safety.

Almqvist further added: “A vehicle standing still by the roadside in poor visibility risks being hit from the rear, which can have severe consequences. An alert issued well in advance gives all drivers of nearby cars and trucks the same opportunity to reduce speed, adjust their driving to the traffic situation and avoid a collision.”

The automaker said that the cloud-based service can be expanded with additional safety-enhancing functions in future.