A year after Volvo Cars announced that they’ll be capping off the terminal velocity of their cars to 180 km/h, the first batch of these speed-limited Volvos are now being shipped to showrooms nationwide.

In a bid to deliver vehicle safety that goes “beyond regulation and legislation,” these new Volvos are meant to reduce the gap of traffic-related serious injuries and fatalities to zero.

Apart from the speed cap, every Volvo car will now also come with a Care Key, which allows Volvo drivers to set additional limitations on the car’s top speed, for example before lending their car to other family members or to younger and inexperienced drivers.

The top speed limit has proven to be controversial since it was announced, with some observers questioning the rights of car makers to impose such limitations through available technology.

Yet Volvo Cars believes it has an obligation to continue its tradition of being a pioneer in the discussion around the rights and obligations of car makers to take action that can ultimately save lives, even if this means losing potential customers.

The problem with speeding is that above certain speeds, in-car safety technology and smart infrastructure design are no longer enough to avoid severe injuries and fatalities in the event of an accident.

Volvo’s research shows that on average, people have poor understanding of the dangers around speeding. As a result, many people often drive too fast and have poor speed adaption in relation to the traffic situation.

Apart from speeding, intoxication and distraction are two other primary areas of concern for traffic safety and that constitute the remaining gap towards Volvo Cars’ vision of a future with zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries. It is taking action to address all three elements of human behavior in its safety work, with more features to be introduced in future cars.