Does more assistance also mean more safety?
Can you imagine a world in which fatal injuries in road traffic can no longer occur? Many experts believe that the realization of this world is possible and are working towards it. "Vision Zero" is what they call their goal. A regulation that will apply throughout Europe from July 2024 is intended to bring us a good deal closer to this goal.
The assistance systems are supposed to brake for us, keep the car in lane, alert us to speeding and much more. However, some of the systems are not yet fully developed and are therefore subject to criticism.
The information at a glance
From July 7, 2024, all new cars must be equipped with assistance systems if they are to be registered in the EU. These include:
- A black box, also known as event-related data recording in the event of accidents (Event Data Recorder = EDR)
- Intelligent Speed Assistance (= ISA)
- Fatigue alert, also known as attention monitoring
- Automatic Emergency Brake Assist
- Emergency brake light (all rear brake and turn signal lights are activated in the event of severe deceleration)
- Emergency Lane Departure Warning
- Reversing assistant
- On the hardware side, there is also an extended head impact protection area (for pedestrians, cyclists)
Cybersecurity will also be improved. The relevant UNECE regulations (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) contain strict IT security requirements, which will also apply from July. They establish clear framework conditions for car manufacturers for IT security and software updates of connected vehicles – so that hackers have as little access as possible to the increasingly complex on-board systems of the cars and so that software updates continue to function securely and over-the-air in the future.
Familiar systems become mandatory equipment
None of the systems is completely new. Many have been in the manufacturers' additional equipment lists for years or are on board as standard equipment for more expensive cars. The fact that they are now coming as a package in all cars is the real news, but no surprise. Because there were transitional periods.
For completely newly developed vehicle models, the obligation to have all systems on board has already been in force since July 6, 2022. So there are already some models with the black box for data recording or the intelligent speed assistant on our roads. We explain the mandatory on-board systems in detail.
Black box: Is the data octopus coming into the car now?
In the event of an accident, an event data recorder (EDR, colloquially known as a black box) records vehicle data, such as speed. The recording covers the period from five seconds before the accident to 300 milliseconds after the accident. This short period of time is sufficient to be able to better reconstruct the crash in retrospect. In order for the EDR to record data, a certain trigger threshold must be exceeded. This is the case, for example, when sensors register a change in speed of more than 8 km/h in 150 milliseconds. Triggering the airbag or belt tensioner can also start recording. Only when this happens does the device store the relevant data. During a normal journey, the EDR records the vehicle data continuously, but does not store it in the memory. Nevertheless, the ADAC, for example, is critical of the black box.
Speed Assistant ISA: How suitable are warnings that cost nerves?
There is already widespread user criticism of the ISA (Intelligent Speed Assistance), the so-called intelligent speed assistant.With cameras for sign recognition and data from the navigation system, the speed assistant monitors whether the driver is adhering to the permissible speed limit. If the car is exceeded, it emits visual and acoustic signals, but does not brake the car. The driver has the upper hand at all times and can deactivate ISA. However, the system is rearmed after each engine start, which is a requirement of the EU.
Unfortunately, the speed assistant in its current form is so annoying that it is deactivated by many drivers before driving. This is because the detection of the specified speed too often does not work. Limits are not recognized or incorrectly recognized. Depending on the manufacturer, the system rings or beeps for no reason. Those who want to turn it off while driving will find that this is not possible with a simple push of a button. In fact, the regulation does not provide for a simple switch-off. They want to make it more difficult for the driver and demand a series of activities to immobilize ISA. The result is inattentive road users struggling through menus, and thus the opposite of what assistance systems actually want to achieve.
ISA is already under scrutiny
After all, the EU Commission was far-sighted enough to include a performance evaluation of the system in the ISA regulation. This must take place by 31 December 2025 at the latest. We asked the ADAC about ISA and spokesman Michael Gebhardt replied: "The ADAC sees the safety potential of ISA. According to our findings, however, the system is currently not sufficiently tested and mature, so the planned shutdown option makes sense."
Fatigue warning: What are the pitfalls of the assistant?
Cameras observe the driver. They check whether he is looking at the road or whether his eyes are closing from tiredness. If he becomes inattentive, the drowsiness warning system emits visual and acoustic signals that prompt the driver to take a break. In some cases, these systems also use cameras that monitor the area in front of the car. They can then see whether the car is swinging back and forth in serpentine lines between the boundary strips, which can be another indication of a distracted driver.
Attention assistant: Warnings about poor operability of the cars
The attention assistant is also not mature. The forward-looking camera cannot always recognize the actual course in construction sites with additional guidelines on the road. Systems with a rather simple image recognition often warn without reason.
The inward-facing systems also have a hard time working as desired in some cars. The large monitors in the middle of the dashboard, which are increasingly used to operate cars today, are to blame. They require frequent averting of the gaze.
It gets really bad in models that display all information on the central monitor. The Volvo EX30 or the Tesla Model 3 are prime examples of how a stylish dashboard makes the on-board electronics sweat. There are no instruments in front of the driver. This forces the driver to look away from the road again and again. The vehicle then punishes this "inattention" with frequent ringing. In doing so, it constantly draws attention to the blatant misdesign of its interior.
The test drive of the Tesla Model 3 Highland as a video
The automatic emergency brake assistant is getting better and better
The emergency brake assistant has been around for almost 20 years. And he has constantly learned something new during this time. In his early days, he only recognized cars and was able to prevent an accident at speeds that are common in the city. Current systems are much more advanced. They also detect two-wheelers and pedestrians and decelerate so reliably that crashes are ruled out in most cases, even at high speeds. In addition to cameras and radar sensors, some manufacturers also use lidar, a technology that works with laser light. It also works in the thickest fog and heavy rain, i.e. when camera-based systems, such as those at Tesla, fail. Of course, the many sensors are not available for little money. One example may be the camera that all cars will have on the upper edge of the windshield in the future. The complete system with software costs around 100 euros and thus represents only a fraction of the costs that come from the additional protection systems on board. After all, several assistants access the camera at once.
More pedestrian protection
If the assistants are unable to prevent an accident, the consequences should be mild – even for road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. That is why the regulations that will come into force in July require better head impact protection. Depending on the car, this can mean that more space must be created between the hood and the engine, that the area in front of the windshield must be softer or that the A-pillars must be more flexible. Often it is a combination of different requirements.
Emergency brake light: During emergency braking, it gets very bright at the rear
In the luxury class, the first cars appeared about 15 years ago, which alerted the following motorists to emergency braking with violently flashing brake lights. The emergency brake light, which will be mandatory from July 2024, continues this technology and also includes the flashing lights. So when braking very hard, it gets really bright at the rear. In poor visibility, this is a real safety gain that can be realized by a few lines of software without driving up the vehicle weight.
Lane Assist: In an emergency, the car stays in its lane
From July, passenger cars and light commercial vehicles will be equipped with emergency lane assistants, which support the driver in maintaining a safe vehicle position on his road by intervening in the steering. The systems warn if the car is about to drift out of lane and intervene if the vehicle actually leaves the lane. Here, too, development work is still needed. Especially in curves with a large radius, many systems intervene slightly again and again and force drivers to adopt a rather angular driving style if they are too close to the outer lane boundary or centerline. In order to improve the acceptance of these systems, fine-tuning would be necessary. Then they would also switch off fewer drivers.
Reversing Assist: More safety when reversing
The reversing assistant is intended to avoid collisions with other road users, people behind the car or stationary obstacles. Anyone who has ever had to reverse from a parking space and had a van parked on the left and right (and therefore could hardly see anything) will appreciate this assistant very much. It not only warns acoustically, but also actively brakes. Ultrasonic sensors in particular monitor the area behind the car that is not visible to the driver. The fact that modern cars are usually very confusing at an angle to the rear is another good reason for this system.
Cars must be trimmed for cybersecurity
Modern cars are complex IT systems that move from A to B at high speed. A risk of security vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit to influence driving functions must therefore be ruled out urgently. The new UNECE security standard for connected vehicles is intended to ensure this. With this set of rules, it has been possible for the first time to establish internationally harmonized and binding standards for IT security and software updates of connected vehicles. Incidentally, not only in Europe, because in addition to the EU states, South Korea and Japan are also on board.
The fact that data protection must not be neglected has not only been demanded by the ADAC for years. But not all questions have yet been answered. Today, drivers do not even know what data the car collects and have no access to it. This is currently only with the manufacturers, and they want to store this data on their own servers. This would make it unnecessarily difficult for independent workshop chains, for example, to access information they need for repairs or services. A quick solution that is satisfactory for all parties is not yet in sight.
Won't the assistants make the cars much more expensive?
Will the new EU rules make our cars more expensive? Clearly, yes. In the higher-priced cars, many sensors of the assistance systems have been on board for some time. New functions can be implemented here by changing software, and it is comparatively cheap. In small and compact cars, on the other hand, hardware must become standard equipment, for example the above-mentioned camera or ultrasonic sensors in the rear bumper, which were previously subject to an extra charge. Here, a few hundred euros more will be the result of EU regulations. "The new assistance systems make driving safer. The bottom line is that the compensation payments of motor insurers will therefore fall by around twelve percent by 2040 as a result of the new systems," says GDV Managing Director Jörg Asmussen. Motorists could benefit from cheaper insurance rates.
Model changes make cars more expensive, not safety
As a rule, a model change disguises the price increase due to the new technology on board. Let's take the BMW X1 1.8 sDrive as an example. The generation, which was built until 2022, most recently cost around 33,300 euros. For the successor, also with the 136 hp entry-level engine, more than 41,000 euros were called up in autumn 2022. The difference of around 8,000 euros is certainly only due to a very small part of the additional assistance equipment. The additional weight of 95 kilograms is also not due to the ISA or the reversing assistant, but rather to the increase in size in all three dimensions when switching to the next generation. Although it is larger, heavier and more expensive, it is also a bit closer to "Vision Zero" thanks to new assistants.
Accident figures are drastically decreasing
These are numbers that make us believe that "Vision Zero" could come true. As recently as the 1960s, we had to mourn more than 20,000 deaths in road traffic in West Germany every year, with much lower traffic density. Regulations that brought us the seat belt (since 1974) and forced the airbag or airbags (not a legal requirement, but required by the Euro NCAP safety consortium), ABS (a must since 2004) or ESP (mandatory since 2014) into cars, caused the death toll to drop sharply – to less than 2,900 fatalities last year. In the future, advanced assistance systems will ensure that the number of accident victims continues to fall.
