Thatcham

As the building blocks of our driver-less future ‘Advanced Driver Assistance Systems’ come in many forms. We visit Thatcham Research in Berkshire to look at what these technologies do, and how they could benefit motorists by reducing the risk of a crash.

How emergency braking systems save lives

The science behind car safety

What Car? Technology Award 2020

What Car? Technology Award 2020

Thatcham Research

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) Explained

We are all on a journey towards what we hope will be an accident free future, where driverless cars will take the strain combining situational awareness, driven by cameras and radar, with the computing power to performing countless complex calculations. We’re still at the early stages of that journey but are clearly seeing the building blocks falling into place in the form of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).

Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC)

Similar to traditional Cruise Control, with the addition of a radar that monitors the car infront so the system can keep a fixed distance. This may include ‘Stop & Go’ or ‘Queue Assist’ functionality that can slow the car to a complete stop and start driving again once a hazard ahead has cleared.

Blind Spot Warning

A warning system that lets you know when another vehicle is in your blind spot. This can help prevent collisions when changing lane with many manufacturers using sensors similar to parking sensors. Because these warnings may be regular, they are non-obtrusive such as a warning light in the wing mirror or interior trim.

Driver Alerts

Aimed to combat tiredness at the wheel or being distracted, these warning systems monitor performance and alert you if it senses attentiveness is affected. Most systems will give an audible alert along with a message on the dashboard display encouraging you to take a break. Advanced systems can even alert you of a potential collision if one is detected ahead.

Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

This prevents you from losing control in a skid and has proven to be so effective, it’s been mandatory on new vehicles since 2012. It works by applying small steering and braking actions to selected wheels if it senses the car veering off course. Research shows that vehicles equipped with ESC are a huge 25% less likely to be involved in a fatal accident than those without it.

Forward Collision Warning (FCW)

FCW systems detect potential obstacles in your path and alert you with a warning. They can also support drivers by boosting the braking input to help avoid a crash, however, unlike AEB, FCW doesn’t work automatically, it needs you to take action and apply the brakes in response to the warning.

Front Side View Cameras

These are a development of reversing cameras, but put into the front bumper on both sides of the car. They provide you with a real-time overview of traffic conditions when pulling out of obscured junctions, gateways or car parks and provide extra information when manoeuvring in those tight spaces.

Lane Departure Warning

Most of these systems use a forward facing camera mounted inside the windscreen by the rear view mirror to identify the lane markings and seeing if they are crossed. When activated typical warnings include a flashing symbol on the dashboard display or audible alert. If the indicators are used before changing lanes, the warnings are deactivated.

Lane Keep Assist System (LKAS)

Building on LDW systems, this steers the car to keep a central position between lane markings. If the car starts to unintentionally cross lanes, steering and/or braking is automatically applied to return the car to the centre of the lane and a warning is sounded. On tighter bends, if lane markings are poor or the driver takes their hand off the steering wheel, LKAS automatically suspends itself.

Night Vision

Using infrared sensors to detect heat contrasts, these systems let you ‘see’ further into the distance. The images picked up are displayed on the sat nav or dashboard. The BMW Night Vision system with Pedestrian Recognition even monitors the images and when a pedestrian is identified, you’re alerted.

Parking Aids

Did you know that in the UK nearly a quarter of all insurance claims are related to parking or low speed manoeuvres? There are a wide variety of parking and manoeuvring assistance systems available, in some cases even controlling the speed and driving direction on behalf of you, the driver.

Volvo Ironmark

Our vision is that no one should be seriously injured or killed in a new Volvo.

Since 1927, when the founders of Volvo Cars decided to focus on safety as one of the core values of the company, we have been a leader in the field. That will never change. What will change is the breadth of technologies we employ to improve your driving experience and safety.

City Safety with Steering Support

Lane Keeping Aid

Large Animal Detection

Oncoming Mitigation by Braking

Run-off Road Mitigation

Steering Support

Euro NCAP

Euro NCAP performs a series of crash and safety tests on car models: – a frontal impact test, 50% of the width of the car is striking an oncoming deformable barrier, also travelling at 50 km/h

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