Automotive Electronic Safety Systems Found to Be Limited in a New Study

Several projects around the world, including in Europe and the USA, have emphasized safe driver assistance systems as a solution for preventing traffic accidents. The technology is meant to do this by improving inter-vehicle and road-to-vehicle communication.

Although the technology is supposed to be the leading solution, it has its limitations, as is evident in a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. It stated that, although electric safety systems can help in accident prevention, they may not work as intended and require the driver to be fully involved while driving. Although no study has so far dismissed electronic safety systems, they have raised concerns about the limitations of these systems. Here are some of the shortcomings highlighted.

Failure of the Systems

Although the study acknowledges that the systems play a significant role in saving the lives of road users, it was found that they can fail in several instances. This was seen where a Tesla Model S was unable to stop in time during a test while their adaptive cruise control was off. The vehicle did not respond to other cars that stopped in front of it. Although systems in cars like Tesla and the Volvo S-90 are considered among the best systems, they are not entirely reliable.

Since not only passenger cars are the target beneficiaries, drivers in fleet companies should be adequately trained on how these systems work.

Most Solutions on the Market Are Incompatible

With several companies developing these systems, the level of incompatibility amongst their products is alarming, especially since there is no standardization body to regulate what each company develops. This shortcoming becomes more evident when organizations with many vehicles try to use solutions from different vendors under one management platform.

Fortunately, companies like eyeride.io are solving this issue by producing a whole ecosystem of devices that work seamlessly together while being easy to manage on one platform.

These Solutions Are Far From Being Perfect

The public is made to believe that vehicles with electronic safety systems are fully autonomous to the extent of being christened as autopilot, which is not the case. This creates unrealistic expectations. Although new features like the adaptive cruise control work remarkably, accidents have been reported while the system was in use. This is why vehicle owners are cautioned about dangers in their manuals, but most of them tend not to read or understand this.

Auto Technology is Changing Fast

Technologies used in electronic safety systems tend to improve very fast. This increases the reliability of the system but might make newly-purchased equipment obsolete in a short time. To prevent the hassle of buying new systems, you should consider purchasing a system that is easily upgradable.

Conclusion

As stated earlier, although the electronic safety system may prove to be reliable, as a driver, you should always be cautious and actively involved in driving your vehicle. We have yet to reach a level where cars can be fully autonomous without facing the limitations mentioned above. While purchasing any electronic safety system, you should consider companies with a good reputation to ensure your safety and that of other road users.