Decoding the Jargon: Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are the intelligence systems of a vehicle that provide vital information to the driver. This information can be about traffic, congestion levels, blockage and closure of the roads ahead, and even suggestions for routes that can enable the driver to avoid congestion.
Some of these systems can help in judging the distraction and fatigue level of a human driver. Thus, they can be used to assess driving performance, provide precautionary alerts, and even make suggestions about it. In some cases, these systems can assess threats and control the vehicle by performing tasks like cruise control. They can also help with difficult maneuvers when it comes to parking or overtaking.
Essentially, ADAS can improve the ability of the driver to react to threats on the road when designed and installed properly. Their goal is to improve reaction times and enhance safety by providing early warnings. Some vehicles come with these vehicles built to standard. However, entire systems and aftermarket features are available. These can be added to some vehicles or used to personalize vehicles to suit the drivers’ needs.
Examples of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems
The automation initiatives are always emerging and technological innovation is constantly evolving. This has led to an increase in systems and features that qualify to be called Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.
Some of the available Advanced Driver Assistance Systems include:
- Anti-lock Brakes
- Adaptive Cruise Control
- High Beam Safety System
- Forward Collision Warning
- Traffic Signals Recognition
- Lane Departure Warning
- Traction Control
- Pedestrian Detection System
- Fatigue Detection Systems
Human error is a major cause of collisions. These systems are at the core of the operations of autonomous vehicles. They play a significant role in preventing or reducing accidents by sending important alerts to drivers. ADAS increase awareness and this helps drivers when it comes to taking the right actions.
How Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Work
The majority of the latest vehicle models come with inbuilt Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. Some of the old models have also been updated to include some of the ADAS features. Essentially, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems use data from different inputs or sources to enable safety features.
For instance, ADAS can use data sources like automotive imaging. This is a series of high-quality sensors that exceed and mimic the human eye capabilities in terms of their 360-degree coverage, high visibility in different lighting situations and bad weather, 3D object resolution, and real-time data.
Light detection and ranging or LiDAR adds more sensors and cameras to enhance computer vision and transform outputs into a 3D version thereby improving the capability to differentiate moving and static objects, especially in bad lighting and blind-spot situations.
Other inputs can include the vehicle to vehicle (V2V), vehicle to infrastructure (V2X), and Wi-Fi. Essentially, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems are constantly emerging and evolving. Nevertheless, their purpose is to enhance the safety and experience of the driver.
Why Are Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Important?
As hinted, human error is a major cause of road accidents. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems are designed and developed to enhance and automate some of the driving experience aspects. They also encourage safe driving and the overall safety of road users. These systems have helped in the reduction of road fatalities that are caused by human error.
ADAS can be categorized into two. Some of these systems automate driving. Examples of such systems are the automatic emergency braking systems. The other category is for the systems that help in improving the awareness of the drivers. Examples of such systems are the lane departure warning systems.
But, the main purpose of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems is to enhance road safety and reduce vehicular injuries by lowering traffic accidents. They also reduce insurance claims that are caused by minor accidents that involve property damage with no injuries.
The major advantages of ADAS include:
- Automated safety system enhancement and adaptation to enhance driving. These systems help in the prevention of collisions using different technologies to alert the drivers of potential hazards. They can also control the vehicle when they detect such hazards.
- Adaptive features like adaptive cruise control, pedestrian crash avoidance mitigation, and automated lighting are navigational warnings that can alert the driver of potential dangers like lane departures and blind sports.
- Sensors can self-calibrate to focus on inherent safety, as well as, dependability of the systems.
Essentially, ADAS facilitate communication between different vehicle infrastructure systems, vehicles, and transport management centers. This enhances information exchange for better localization, vision, planning, and decision making.
The Future of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems
Vehicle engineering and technology are always changing. This is also the case for ADAS features. As such, future Advanced Driver Assistance Systems will be more improved. For instance, they will use wireless network connectivity to facilitate Vehicle to Infrastructure and Vehicle to Vehicle connectivity.
In simple terms, future vehicles will be communicating with each other. And, using the mainframe, ADAS will provide a more automated and safer driving experience.
