“Regardless of how car power changes, ‘safety’ is an eternal core topic, but in different eras, car safety has different coverage. Recently, in order to demonstrate the brand’s determination to transition to electric travel and its strength in safety, Volkswagen held a series of “ID. GO Safety Lab” events, with the first stop opening in Beijing on December 15, 2023.”
This is an opportunity to experience the safety strength of the Volkswagen ID. family and share with everyone what automotive safety should be like in the era of electrification and intelligence.
Once, the car’s body structure, seat belts, airbags, and ABS system were the only safeguards for car safety. Now, with the development of various car technologies, people have more ways to enhance the safety of car travel. It can be broadly divided into active safety and passive safety. For electric and intelligent cars, battery safety and network security are also involved.
First, let’s talk about active safety. The Volkswagen ID. family relies on IQ.Drive smart driving assistant, which includes Travel Assist, Front Assist, Emergency Assist, and other active driving assistance systems. Their main function is to prevent collisions from happening or reduce the severity of collisions.
The event showcased the hardware system of IQ.Drive intelligent driving assistant, including high-definition cameras, millimeter-wave radar and computing hardware. The cameras and radar are used to assess road and traffic conditions, and the computing hardware processes this information to make decisions. When the system detects a potential danger and the driver does not react in time, the power, brake, and steering systems of the vehicle will automatically take action to prevent accidents or reduce the severity of the danger.
IQ.Drive smart driving assistant includes Lane Assist and Trigger Lane Change systems to help alleviate driver fatigue. Lane Assist helps keep the vehicle stable in the middle of the lane during long drives and alerts the driver if there is deviation. Trigger Lane Change, first introduced in the new ID.7 VIZZION, automatically changes lanes when the steering lever is activated and it is safe to do so. Passive safety is achieved through the vehicle’s body structure and materials. The ID. family adopts a high-rigidity body design, using ultra-high-strength hot-formed steel with a tensile strength of about 2000 megapascals in key areas. The vehicle also features reinforced beams and other strengthening designs on the underside and sides to protect the occupants and the battery pack.
The best proof of family passive safety is the excellent evaluation of all four items in the C-IASI test by SAIC Volkswagen ID.4 X, and the outstanding performance of ID.6X, ID.3, and ID.6 CROZZ in various crash tests.
Battery safety also needs to be divided into multiple areas, including the structural design of the battery pack, thermal management, sealing, and BMS, all of which are key factors.
In terms of structure, the Volkswagen ID. family’s battery adopts a “chocolate” modular design, with an aluminum alloy battery pack housing using a honeycomb design and a combination of profile beams and longitudinal beams welding form to ensure high energy density and battery pack strength. The thermal management is an independent system, with a liquid cooling system using efficient thermal conductive glue to ensure the battery can operate normally in high and low temperature environments. The battery management system monitors and protects against heat diffusion throughout the entire lifecycle, with timely alarms for abnormal situations, such as high voltage short circuits or vehicle collisions, which will actively cut off the high voltage system power to minimize risks. While network security may not be particularly sensitive to most car consumers, as automotive products rapidly transition to digitalization, network security becomes increasingly important. In this regard, Volkswagen has established a high standard automotive network security management system to ensure the product network security throughout the entire lifecycle of development, production, use, and after-sales of the vehicle. The vehicle is equipped with an intrusion detection and defense system to protect the vehicle from network attacks, while also ensuring user data privacy and driving safety.
In addition to the hardcore display, the event also featured some interactive activities for the audience to explore car safety technology and experience the safety capabilities of the Volkswagen ID. family in a relaxed atmosphere.
The Volkswagen “ID.GO Safety Lab” Beijing station will be open to the public on December 16th and 17th at the Tongying Center in Beijing. This event will also be held in other cities, at the Shanghai Mixc from December 22nd to 24th, and at the Guangzhou Tiantai Square from December 29th to 31st. Interested friends can visit and experience the safety technology of the Volkswagen ID. family up close.