ANCAP – It wasn’t us who stuffed up Lane Keep Assist (LKA) and Emergency Lane Keeping (ELK)

[whynot]

If one has driven a new(ish) car of late, one would have come across various Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS).

ADAS fall into various categories.

The first category of ADAS contains those that randomly beep loudly at you whilst flashing a warning light on the dash. Designed to distract your eyes off the road whilst looking for the cause.

The second category of ADAS are those that randomly slam the brakes on. Designed to brake check the car behind whilst being able to give a lawful excuse in Court. “It wasn’t me your Honor, it was the car that braked checked.”

The third category of ADAS are those that decided that the centre (or edge) of the road is not actually where it is in reality … the centre (according to the electronics) is over there. Resulting in the electronics giving a massive tug on the steering wheel in some random direction.

These safety systems are being mandated by Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) to achieve a five-star safety rating.

Well, a few days ago, the ANCAP Chief Executive Officer issued a statement acknowledging the issue, and directly laying the blame at the manufacturers. Further, ANCAP is funding – what best could be described as a walk of shame – research into vehicles that are providing an adverse driver experience.

“The pilot group of vehicle models we’ve assessed has been assembled from direct consumer feedback, where a specific list of models were identified as offering a fairly rudimentary response. Unfortunately the behaviour of these vehicles is having consumers question the benefits of these systems, and in some cases, turn them off.”

“What we don’t want to see is these systems being badged as ‘annoying’ and switched off,” Ms Hoorweg said.

“What we want to demonstrate are the differences in vehicle behaviour, and by sharing these results, encourage manufacturers to improve their systems. This will in turn improve the acceptance of these systems by their customers.”

Full statement from ANCAP is here

https://www.ancap.com.au/media-and-g...eleases/a62a71








Personally, I wonder if ANCAP has strayed out of their lane a little. Specifically, with how some ratings are not achievable if a driver assist system is not “default-on”. For example, ANCAP marked down the Ford Transit Custom because its driver monitoring system could be turned off and left off. One could argue that this is necessary to remind delivery drivers to look at the road and not their mobile phone. But the argument falls flat when the ADAS is beeping at the driver who is using their mirrors - like we were all had to do to pass our driving exam.

ANCAP is layering additional expense into every new car purchases. The minimum they can do is make sure the technology will be a genuine driver aid and not another distraction. Oh, and to give those of us who know how to drive the option to turn the ruddy thing off: permanently.