Despite the fact that new vehicles for sale in Spain have more and more driving aids and assistance, the level of ADAS system equipment in the automobile fleet is medium-low, especially in those with the greatest capacity to avoid road accidents , such as lane keeping systems, automatic emergency braking (in its different versions), blind spot detection, or fatigue detection systems, among others. Part of the blame lies with the average age of the cars on our roads, which is over 13.1 years old.
Apart from this consideration, 70% of drivers believe that they react better in the event of a mishap on the road than a technological assistant. More than 40% of the Spanish driver population acknowledges that they do not have sufficient knowledge about ADAS systems (Advanced Driving Assistance Systems). The remaining 60%, although they claim to know them, when asked for an in-depth definition, show large gaps, as well as confusion between different systems and their functions. These are some of the conclusions of the study “Knowledge of ADAS systems by the Spanish population” that is part of the VIDAS project (road safety and ADAS), promoted by Bosch and FESVIAL.
Among younger drivers, they are less willing to use this type of system because they tend to trust their own abilities. Meanwhile, among older users, although they recognize the usefulness of ADAS, they are more concerned about how they are used.
The equipment of ADAS systems in vehicles is considered a secondary value, with little weight, when purchasing a new vehicle, especially aggravated by dealers and points of sale where, in 65.5% of sales , these systems were not highlighted as an important argument in the explanation of the advantages of the vehicle, when due to their effectiveness and improvement in safety, they should be among the most important. Despite this, the amount of information related to the ADAS provided by the seller is considerable and this is provided, in most cases, before the closing of the sale of the vehicle and not so much at the time of delivery.
Regarding the level of knowledge, most of the ADAS systems are known by more than 60% of the drivers. The ADAS systems that fall below this level of knowledge are the most innovative or recent: sign detection, fatigue detection, crossing assistant and warning of the wrong driver, while the best known are, in general, the most equipped.
«It is commonly accepted among the driver sample that ADAS provide a safety plus to the vehicle that equips these systems compared to the one that does not, and that they help the person who drives in unexpected situations. Even so, 40% of drivers do not have a formed opinion about the level of effectiveness of ADAS systems, especially in comparison with human response, and about the level of reliability in their operation and protection against hacking”, according to the technical director of FESVIAL.
«On the other hand, drivers mostly assign positive attributes and values to ADAS systems: especially safety for drivers, pedestrians, and other users, agility and efficiency in traffic management, coexistence between road users, etc. », continues Lijarcio.
“This positive attitude towards ADAS systems translates into a considerable intention to use: more than 60% of drivers prefer to drive a vehicle with ADAS systems or it seems appropriate to buy a vehicle equipped with these systems”, indicates José Ignacio Lijarcio.
The most common ADAS
The most common ADAS systems fitted to Spanish cars are automatic headlights, tire pressure control, intelligent speed limitation (ISA) and adaptive cruise control, although, in this sense, it is more than likely that confusion in the drivers and that they equip non-intelligent speed limiter and/or cruise control, but not adaptive.
In relation to the perception of safety, the highest levels are assigned to the ADAS systems aimed at avoiding collisions and run overs: frontal collision alert, car to car automatic emergency braking, automatic emergency braking for pedestrians and cyclists, run over warning pedestrians and cyclists, fatigue detection system and oncoming vehicle warning. Although it is very likely that this attribution is largely intuitive and based on the name of the ADAS itself, since many of them have a low level of knowledge.