Volvo has been known in the industry as a global leader in the automobile safety realm. Acknowledging that point, Volvo created a cool April 1st hoax that is lifted straight from Hollywood science fiction.

The Swedish automaker established their credentials by unveiling the world's first External Vehicle Protection (EnVeloP) system.

Quite simply put, this External Vehicle Protection system consists of a small container built in the roof of the car, which contains a folded-in, vacuum pulled balloon of similar material to existing airbags.

By completely enveloping the car, the External Vehicle Protection system ensures that damage and personal injury as a result of the collision is minimised.

Thomas Broberg, Senior Technical Adviser Safety at the Volvo Cars Safety Centre, said, "This new safety feature is the embodiment of the Volvo brand philosophy, Designed Around You. All we did was take a very literal approach to Designed Around You. Instead of finding new areas inside the car where we could add more airbag-like safety systems, we asked ourselves: why not cover the complete car in an airbag-like solution?"

The EnVeloP system is currently still in testing phase. If the tests go well, we could very much see it being part of Volvo's future models.