Debut signals the brand’s continued commitment to innovation and design
ROCKLEIGH, N.J. (February 14, 2014) – Volvo Cars, Swedish luxury automobile manufacturer, reveals the “Pure Tension Pavilion” for the first time in the U.S. at Modernism Week in Palm Springs on February 16th. The pavilion – a free-standing tensioned membrane structure – is a rapidly deployable and portable solar charging station designed to power up the Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid, the world’s first Diesel Plug-in Hybrid, designed to showcase a glimpse into what a future world of mobility can look like.
“The Volvo ‘Pure Tension pavilion’ anticipates a vision of the future of electric recharging — the car doesn't go in search of it, instead it goes where the car goes," said Alvin Huang, Founder and Design Principal of Synthesis Design + Architecture (SDA), a Los-Angeles based contemporary design studio who conceived and created the pavilion last year as part of a competition organized by Volvo Car Italia. “The structure unites performance, form and technology, just like the new Volvo cars.”
During Modernism Week, Huang will appear on a panel, presented by Volvo Cars and Dwell Media, discussing the Future of Mobility – including the road to autonomous driving. Hosted by Dwell editor Erika Heet, the panel will also feature:
Anders Tylman-Mikiewicz, General Manager, Volvo Monitoring & Concept Center Los Angeles
Greg Goldin, former automotive columnist, Curator, A+D Architecture and Design Museum, Los Angeles "Never Built Los Angeles' Exhibition 2013
Paul Meyers, automotive expert, former Robb Report correspondent and social media guru
“Volvo is committed to a safety vision that states no individual should be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo by 2020, and it’s our world-leading safety technologies that allow us to pioneer the field of autonomous driving,” said Anders Tylman-Mikiewicz, General Manager, Volvo Monitoring & Concept Center. “As a human-centric brand, we understand people, and we know they want to maximize their time, which is just one of the many benefits autonomous driving brings.”
More than one million Volvo cars equipped with systems for automatic braking have been sold. To date, more than 155,000 of these units have been sold in the U.S. market. Volvo Cars' technology for automatic braking includes several world firsts: City Safety, which is standard on S60, XC60, V60, XC70 and S80 and works at speeds up to 31 mph; Collision Warning with full auto brake; and Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection with full auto brake. Now, Volvo Cars is moving towards technologies with a higher degree of autonomous driving in normal traffic situations. By the end of 2014, the all-new Volvo XC90 will be available with Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with steer assist, which automatically follows the vehicle ahead in queues. Other features include road edge and barrier detection with steer assist, which detects if the car is about to drive off the road and autonomously applies steering torque to bring the vehicle back on track.
These present systems for auto braking, lane keeping aid and adaptive cruise control are examples of the first steps in the autonomous driving direction. During Modernism Week, attendees will have the chance to test these features out in the latest XC60 and S60 models. Test drives will be hosted at the Modern Living Expo http://modernlivingexpo.com/ between 10am-4pm on Sunday, February 16th.
Images and video will be available following the panel discussion.
Media please contact:
Alexandra Osorio
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
Laura Venezia
Volvo Cars of North America
