Volvo planning more Big Brother to improve safety

So it is that I can tell you that Volvo could not be more wrong when it says "there is nothing remotely 'Big Brother' about its approach" with regard to what it calls the "Third Age of Safety." The essence of this part of George Orwell's famous novel about repression -- 1984 -- was that Big Brother watched you all the time and stopped you from doing something it didn't want you to do.

A system that watches your driving all the time and then intervenes to stop you from doing something it considers wrong is exactly what Volvo is working on. The key quote (which we'll get to later) from Volvo is "taking over control of the vehicle." (At this point, lovers of irony might appreciate that Volvo's fervent denial is a good modern example of "Newspeak," another Orwellian creation for 1984.)

What is in question regarding Volvo's work is whether the value of its Big Brother technology is great enough to convince consumers they should buy a car that uses it. This is not so academic a question as you might think, since it's Volvo's intent to put some new aspects of Big Brother technology in the upcoming S80 and V70 models.

It must be noted that there's already a bunch of Big Brother technology to be found in cars, usually related to the braking systems and related gear. The first item here was delivered by Mercedes-Benz about a decade ago, when it debuted electronic stability control. The key to that system -- which is now widely available -- was the ability of the car to apply an individual brake (which is something the driver still can't do) to correct a loss of control.

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