The Next Wave of ADAS Packages are the Stepping Stones to More Holistic Safety

This month, Ford announced that its new advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) package, the Co-Pilot360 automation suite, will become a standard fitting across all models by 2020, beginning with the 2019 Edge and Edge ST later this year. The ADAS package consists of several systems, including forward-collision warning with active braking and pedestrian detection, lane keeping assist, and blind spot information with cross-traffic assist.

This announcement  joins similar moves made by Honda and Toyota, who have also opted to make ADAS packages a default fitting on popular models. This not only signifies how quickly the ADAS market is gaining momentum but also highlights the fact that ADAS packages are seen by many as the stepping stone to more holistic safety and higher level autonomous systems.

The move by Ford follows other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who have opted to make ADAS safety packages a standard fitting across certain models. Toyota announced in November 2017 the rollout of its new Toyota Safety Sense package consisting of forward collision warning, lane keeping assist, and adaptive cruise control systems as standard across mid-2018 models including the popular Camry, Corolla, and RAV4 models. Another OEM, Honda, also has an ADAS safety package, the Honda Sensing package, which is available as standard across 2018 Accord and CV-R models. Further information on the different ADAS packages available on these models and other vehicle brands is available in a recent ABI Research report [MD-ADAS-112].

The rollout of standard ADAS packages is part of a wider growing trend for OEMs to be active rather than reactive when it comes to automotive safety. Safety standards set by regulative authorities are constantly evolving to help incorporate new safety measures to help keep drivers and passengers safe, as well as pedestrians. In 2016, the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) introduced the use of new safety tests that included testing for forward collision warning, pedestrian detection, and lane keeping assist systems as part of the testing methodology. The introduction of these tests raised the bar for automotive safety in safety testing and now all vehicles rated the highest level of safety (five stars) by Euro NCAP have several of these safety systems incorporated as a default option on the car model. Elsewhere in the United States, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) required all new vehicles produced after May 2018 and less than 10,000 pounds to require a back-up camera as standard. However, even before the mandate was issued, the agency found that at least 50% of new cars sold in the United States in 2015 had a rear-view back-up as default.

The rollout of default ADAS packages across top-selling models from three of the top five selling car brands in the United States—Ford, Honda, and Toyota—illustrates how OEMs are starting to standardize ADAS safety packages as part of an active approach toward placing consumer safety at the forefront. It is also interesting to note that rather than opting to make just a single safety system a default option, Ford, Honda, and Toyota have all opted to combine multiple longitudinal and lateral safety systems into a single default ADAS package, providing a more serious and holistic approach to automotive safety.

In the same way that the sensors and the underlying technology from adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist systems were combined to help create traffic jam assistants, individual safety systems, and the underlying technology could be combined to bring an entirely new level of safety functionality to consumers, who are likely to favor a more complete approach to safety. As an example of what this could look like, Toyota announced in 2017 a partnership with NVIDIA that would see the NVIDIA platform fuse data from multiple different sensors and systems to provide more a complete autonomous safety system, dubbed the Guardian Angel,with a targeted release of 2020. This announcement follows on the back of the default rollout of the Toyota Safety Sense pack across certain Toyota models, displaying how these ADAS packages could represent a suitable precursor to the more holistic safety system in the long term.

The holistic approach to safety is also in-line with regulatory bodies and safety rating agencies that aim to transition from a current individual technology-based approach whereby there are tests for each individual technology system to a more scenario-based assessment, whereby more comprehensive safety systems are tested on a scenario basis. The Euro NCAP 2025 roadmap, for instance, outlines its goal for virtual scenario-based testing to be phased in 2022, aiming for the process to be completed by 2025. Default ADAS safety packages provide OEMs with the suitable intermediary and platform to be able to develop a more complete and holistic safety support system for the virtual scenario-based testing that may be present in the not so far future.

This recent move by OEMs in the United States to incorporate default ADAS packages with different systems and sensors has, so far, not been replicated by vendors that are prevalent in areas outside the United States. The most popular European car brands, such as Volkswagen (VW), Peugeot, and Renault, have yet to make similar moves, instead opting to make individual systems, such as forward collision warning, standard on a very limited selection of models and trims, for example, the latest VW Golf SV will feature only forward collision warning as standard on new 2018 models. These OEMs should stop thinking of longitudinal and lateral systems as individual systems, instead, they should the future potential of these systems to work in tandem with each other to provide a more holistic safety system. In the future, the technologies and sensors from current individual systems, such as active lane assist, cross-traffic assist, forward collision warning, and pedestrian detection, will not be thought of and judged upon their ability as individual systems, but as a more comprehensive, collective system that provides safety in given scenarios. Combing these safety systems, the underlying technologies and supporting sensors into packages now enables OEMs to take a half step toward creating that more comprehensive system in the near future.