Safety technology still needs work

Automakers racing to produce autonomous vehicles face a significant challenge: The safety systems that would enable self-driving vehicles must be improved.

The first wave of active safety technology -- features such as emergency braking, lane-departure warning and adaptive cruise control -- has reduced accidents. But experts say several aspects must be upgraded before today's advanced driver assistance systems, known as ADAS, can be depended upon in fully autonomous vehicles.

The ability to sense road conditions is spotty, particularly in bad weather. And poor human machine interface -- HMI in industry parlance -- has been discouraging some drivers from actually using the technology in their cars.

"We have to make these more robust, more reliable," said Glen De Vos, Delphi Automotive vice president of engineering. "The biggest concern with these systems is they become an irritant, and people turn them off." 

As the industry assesses feedback from research and consumers, it can see some systems that need work -- but also some successes. In general, active safety technologies seem to do what they're intended to: reduce traffic accidents. 

For instance, research by the Highway Loss Data Institute, an insurer-supported nonprofit affiliated with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, has shown that forward-collision warning systems with automatic braking reduce rear-end crashes. (See box, at right.) 

"Even when a crash isn't avoided, systems that have autobrake have a good chance of preventing injuries by reducing the impact speed," Jessica Cicchino, an IIHS vice president, said in a release. The studies were done using trim-line information and vehicle identification numbers supplied by automakers. 

Positive research results no doubt encourage automakers. But regulators are prodding them, too. 

Either through voluntary agreements with federal agencies or through new rules, several safety features will become mandatory standard equipment in the next six years.

Another reason automakers are adding ADAS features is that consumers want them.

Acura spokesman Matt Sloustcher notes that the brand has made its AcuraWatch safety features standard on the MDX crossover and RLX sedan: "I think the fact that we are applying it as a standard technology is a measure that consumers are responding favorably."

Delphi's De Vos says automakers increasingly are allowing consumers to buy active safety features individually rather than bundled in packages, which lowers the price. Automakers are pushing the features into smaller and less-expensive vehicles, too, he says.

"OEMs are trying to capitalize on these systems because there's a stronger pull from the end consumer for them," De Vos said.

Next steps for the industry include refining the technology and adding functions to existing systems. Jan Ivarsson, senior technical adviser for safety at Volvo Cars, says the automaker wants to activate safety systems before a driver is close to an accident.

"That is more or less when the driver has lost control of the situation," Ivarsson said. "That is a very late intervention that is beyond the normal driving of the car."

One such effort is "run-off road" protection on the Volvo S90 sedan. The system works more assertively than standard lane-departure warnings to steer a wandering car back into its lane, he says.

But being able to conduct sophisticated evasive maneuvers requires that safety systems stay turned on, Ivarsson says. That's why the problem of drivers turning off lane-departure warning systems because of irritating alerts needs to be fixed, he says: "It should be a natural part of your driving behavior to have the system on always."

The industry also is puzzling out how to improve the incoming data that trigger a safety system's response. For instance, Volvo is testing a 360-degree view lidar system, Ivarsson says.

Delphi's De Vos says sensor technology must be reliable in adverse weather -- such as snow, fog or wet pavement that obscure lane markers.

"We still need to make these systems much more capable over all weather conditions," he said. "Today, some systems tend to turn themselves off in inclement weather, and that's when you need the system the most.

"As we try to make these systems more standard, the expectation from the end consumer is that they will always work and they will work reliably."

De Vos says automakers and suppliers are in the early stages of figuring out how to best blend radar, lidar, cameras and information from mapping systems. But he says such multimodal sensing will improve the systems' performance.

Vehicle-to-vehicle communication and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication also will play a major role in updating data about road conditions, says John Capp, General Motors director of global safety strategy. And basic infrastructure improvements, such as clear lane markings, are needed.

But for now, IIHS senior researcher David Kidd says, gaps in sensing systems pose a potential danger if drivers come to rely on safety features.

"My experience is that these things work fairly well on highways that are clearly marked," Kidd said. "I think it would be very easy to fall into complacency."

Developers say that, aside from refining current sensor functions, the industry is adding capability to them: for instance, the ability to distinguish large animals, bicyclists and pedestrians.

That is part of a trend to add functions to existing safety systems, rather than invent new ones. For example, rear cross-traffic alerts were layered onto backup cameras. Continental may add another layer -- rear cross-traffic braking assist, says Dean McConnell, leader of sales, project management and business development for Continental Automotive Systems.

These kinds of improvements are needed to make fully autonomous vehicles safe. As systems evolve, Kidd of IIHS says, computerized intervention in unsafe situations will become more aggressive: "I think that what you're going to see is automakers moving away from warnings to some sort of active assistance."

There's little doubt that automakers see self-driving vehicles as the endpoint.

McConnell says Continental has noticed a new tone in inquiries from automakers in the past year: "It's shifted from discrete functions and sensor solutions to, "How do we get from ADAS to autonomous driving?'"

But, he says, full autonomy can come only after improvements to today's safety technology: "That requires a whole new level of functionality and safety redundancy in the system."