A little assistance here?

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) will feature heavily in electric commercial vehicles, with the potential to mitigate substantial road risk. However, how and why they work is generally not well communicated to drivers, and there is often a lack of oversight in terms of whether or how they are used.

There are three broad categories of ADAS emerging - connected atonomous vehicles, heavily automated vehicles and ultimately, autonomous vehicles. All the technologies being built into vehicles now is paving the way for vehicles which do not require a driver.

So the urpose of ADAS is two-fold - to make today's drivers safer by warning of hazardous manouvres and intervening if necessary, and secondly to perfect the technology so that AI-enhanced comuters can drive the vehicles entirely.

There are several issues fleets should be aware of:

• Not all ADAS systems are connected to the CAN Bus, for the same reason many bodily reflexive responses don't come from the brain. In an emergency you need the fastest response possible. However, this can also mean that when ADAS systems are turned off, this isn't logged in the CanBus data and fleet operators aren't necessarily aware of it.
• A Drivetech report in 2020 found that drivers tend to either become too confident due to the resence of ADAS, or were likely to disable it. Either way the safety improvements are comletely negated. Drivers must be trained to work with the technology, and understand its purpose and limitations in order to reap the benefits.
• There's little evidence so far that autonomous emergency braking (AEBS)  or anti-lock braking systems are actually lowering collisions. One reason is the over-confidence factor - drivers who believe in the technology drive faster and or closer to other vehicles because they feel more secure doing so. The other reason is that AEBS, for example, will not prevent collision. It is designed to alert the driver to respond apropriately and only in the last moments will it activate the brakes to reduce collision speed. In a car this may well reduce fatalities. In a truck, any other vehicle hit is likely to suffer catstrophic damage regardless of impact speed.
• These systems are informed by sensors, typically cameras and radar arrays. Those sensors can be confused by fluctuating light/shadow, rain, snow, poor visibility etc. They are also identifying very specific shapes such as the rear of a vehicle. They usually will not recognise a tree, or a crash barrier, or even a cyclist, deending upon the type of ADAS.

Conclusion: ADAS could be fantastic and save lots of lives. However operators must train, manage and mandate its use. Providing ADAS to a driver either not trained or not accommodating of the technology is potentially hazardous in its own right. 

Operators must develop policies about the use of such technology, including the rules about when it can be disabled and who must be informed. Finally driver behaviour must be managed and monitored. ADAS is a way to make safe drivers safer - not a way to compensate for poorly managed or risky drivers.

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