VW IQ.Drive tech to assist with road safety

To highlight this ambition together with Volkswagen’s new IQ.Drive features, VW launched a campaign that uses a new and innovative paint technology to showcase the impressive functionality of Blind Spot Monitoring, a unique feature that sees what you don’t.

According to the *South African Government’s website, road fatalities are a major contributor to unnatural deaths in South Africa with approximately 40 people a day losing their lives on the road, which amounts to over 14 000 deaths annually.

Many accidents are caused by objects in drivers’ blind spots, which we simply cannot see, from overtaking vehicles and delivery drivers to scooters, motorbikes and cyclists. Volkswagen’s IQ.Drive Blind Spot Monitoring is a high-tech radar system that scans the side and rear of your vehicle and alerts drivers to potential hazards that they otherwise might not see via a lighting display on the side mirror.

Dedicated to creating safer journeys for all road users, Volkswagen is creating awareness for not only their Blind Spot Monitoring feature, but also the dangers of the blind spot together with road safety awareness through a series of installations that people literally never saw coming.

With the use of a specialised paint known as ‘Black 3.0,’ which is so dark that it absorbs light and removes all definition, Volkswagen has created a series of “invisible” life-size installations that are showcased in select Volkswagen Dealers and public locations that feature objects commonly found, or rather missed, in a driver’s blind spot.

The objects inside each installation, upon initial inspection, are “invisible”, as they are undefinable painted in Black 3.0 against black darkness, but when onlookers scan the installation using an Augmented Reality (AR) filter, the actual object in front of them is revealed, highlighting not only the dangers of the blind spot but the benefits of Volkswagen’s Blind Spot Monitoring system, together with other IQ.Drive features.

“As the People’s Car and with safety as one of our core DNA principles, we are committed to ensuring not only safer roads for our drivers, but for all, no matter their mode of transport,” says Bridget Harpur, Head of Marketing for Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand.

“Our ‘Blind Spot’ campaign is designed to highlight some of the innovative features of our new IQ.Drive system that seek to make safe driving intuitive but also to create awareness for road safety issues, for all, on their respective journeys.”

The ‘Blind Spot’ campaign is the first in what will be a series of safety initiatives from Volkswagen, which aims to shed light on road safety issues in South Africa and to highlight the technology available to assist drivers.