Volvo's truck-load of hi-tech safety

 has unveiled a prototype truck showcasing some of the world's most advanced active safety technologies.

Packed with sensors, radars, laser scanners and an assortment of cameras, the Integrated Safety Truck has been created to demonstrate technology that is being developed by a number of major car manufacturers, including Volvo,

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Unveiled at last week's Intelligent transport Systems congress in London, the vehicle is equipped with a range of technologies designed to create a 'virtual safety belt' around it.

These include a collision mitigation system that 'sees' obstacles in the road and automatically applies the brakes, and a lane-keeping support system to detect unintentional lane departures and trigger a driver warning or active steering system.

Previous lane-keeping assistants have relied solely on cameras to follow lane markings, but these lines are often faded, so the truck is equipped with a digital mapping system that automatically knows where they should be.

This technology will also alert the driver to approaching bends and accident black spots, correlating this information with the current weather conditions.