There was no brief. There were no objectives.

But there was a harrowing situation: in the Netherlands annually 17.000 people suffer from cardiac arrest. The first 6 minutes are crucial for survival. But ambulances take on average 9 minutes to reach the victims. Each minute we could steal from that 9 minutes could possibly save a life. That became our ambitious goal.

Volvo equals safety. Inside and outside the car. But why stop there when we saw such a wonderful possibility to help people who were having a cardiac arrest? Together with the Volvo team we decided to equip Volvo drivers with AED’s, train them and connect their Volvos to the national call system for resuscitation. The Volvo drivers are registered as civilian first responders. Emergency calls are automatically sent to the car via Volvo On Call. The driver can navigate directly to the victim, saving possible valuable minutes.

The concept is now being rolled out to other countries. In the end and AED will become a regular item on each Volvo.

Like the three-point safety-belt and other safety innovations by Volvo, we strongly hope that other car brands will follow: helping people to survive a cardiac arrest can’t be bound to one brand.

The target audience for this concept are all people that may possibly encounter a cardiac arrest. A small group compared to the Dutch population, but a group that needs the best help they can get. Volvo LifeSaver tries to do just that.

Once the bare concept was there, we approached the Dutch national emergency call system for resuscitation and other heart disease related organizations. Together we needed to overcome mainly technical obstacles. Perseverance of all made it possible that LifeSaver became reality.

The importance of the simple concept is acknowledged by Volvo and other organizations who are concerned with heart diseases. In the coming years Volvo LifeSaver will be rolled out to other European countries.

We created a real solution, using data and what was already there. By installing AED’s in Volvo’s, drivers step into the time gap where ambulances can’t arrive in time. We connected their Volvo’s to the national emergency call system for resuscitation. The Volvo driver is registered as a civilian first responder. Emergency calls are automatically sent to this civilians’ car via Volvo On Call. When driver reply, the navigation system directs them directly to the victim. Data told us that the Northeast rural part of the country counts the least AED’s. So we started Volvo LifeSaver there.

To make people aware of the program, we issued a press release and Facebook post followed by a documentary about a cardiac arrest survivor and his rescuer, highlighting the importance of the 6-minute response time. In short video posts on social media, we invited Volvo drivers to volunteer as civilian first responders.

With an estimated reach of 16,000,000+ impressions, the project generated national interest for the current problem of response time for cardiac arrest victims and stirred up public debate in social- and mass media, including national and international newspapers and news services.

And perhaps more importantly, the program is saving real lives with 25 drivers trained and enlisted as civilian first responders and over 200 more lined up to do the same – a number that has already exceeded our expectations by nearly a 1000%. The Volvo LifeSaver program is now a program that Volvo will keep supporting, continuing to use Volvo cars and their drivers as an extension of the brand’s tangible promise to keep everyone safe.