Driving aids: Ford, General Motors and Mercedes on the podium, Tesla behind


Consumer Reports, the American counterpart of UFC Que-Choisir in France, recently carried out a series of tests on car manufacturers’ driver assistance systems (ADAS).

The main focus was on the adaptive cruise and distance control (ACC+) combo and lane keeping assist. For the latter, it is the LCA (Lane Centering Assist) which allows the driver to define the positioning of his vehicle on the lane. Thus, it suffices that the vehicle travels more to the right, to the left or in the center for the system to learn by itself. This is called an active driver assistance system (ADA).

BlueCruise Ford Consumer Reports ADAS ADA

A total of 12 ADA systems were tested and rated:

  • BlueCruise/ActiveGlide (Ford/Lincoln)
  • SuperCruise (Chevrolet/Cadillac/GMC)
  • Driver Assistance (Mercedes-Benz)
  • Driving Assistance Professional (BMW)
  • Safety Sense 3.0/Safety System+ 3.0 (Toyota/Lexus)
  • Travel Assist/Adaptive Cruise Assist (Volkswagen/Audi)
  • Autopilot (Tesla)
  • Highway Assist (Rivian)
  • ProPILOT Assist (Nissan/Infiniti)
  • Sensing/Acura Watch (Honda/Acura)
  • Pilot Assist (Volvo/Polestar)
  • Highway Driving Assist (Hyundai/Kia/Genesis)

The non-profit organization was particularly impressed with Ford’s BlueCruise system, winner of this comparison, which makes “easier and less stressful driving”, according to Jake Fisher, CR’s senior director of automotive testing. Same observation for the GM SuperCruise which slips from the number one place to the second step of the podium.

BlueCruise Ford Consumer Reports ADAS ADA

CONSUMER REPORTS ADAS ADA

These two ADAs are distinguished from the others by the presence of direct driver monitoring systems (DDMS), taking the form of infrared cameras pointed at the face of the driver. these “trigger an alert if the driver stops paying attention to the road, even for a few seconds. If the driver does not take their eyes off the road, the system quickly begins to slow the car down..

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BlueCruise Ford Consumer Reports ADAS ADA

Consumer Reports testers believe this type of driver monitoring is “essential to the safety of any ADA system”. Proof of this is with the addition of extra points to the overall model test score “adequately equipped”. Indeed, some vehicles, although equipped with a DDMS, do not “do not adequately supervise drivers”. In particular, the systems are called into question, operating thanks to a simple (occasional) pressure of the hand or a light tap on the steering wheel, without it being necessary to look at the road.

Kelly Funkhouser, head of automotive technology at Consumer Reports, warns: “If a car manufacturer decides to equip a car with an ADA system, they must have adequate safeguards in place or not include lane centering assist and adaptive cruise control at all”. Beginning in fall 2023, Consumer Reports will deduct points if an ADA system does not have an adequate DDMS.

Automation is all about freeing up resources and, unsurprisingly, drivers are using those to do more than drive.

Pnina Gershon, researcher at MIT AgeLab and MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics

Another rant from Consumer Reports towards ADAs from certain manufacturers, whose vehicles can drive “for an abnormally long period of time without the driver having to put any pressure on the steering wheel, let alone ensure that the driver is really attentive to the road”.

Driving aids: Ford, General Motors and Mercedes on the podium, Tesla behind

© Erick Fontaine / Lesnumériques

Are targeted Mercedes-Benz, yet 3rd in the ranking, and Tesla whose tests have shown that it was possible to drive on the highway in hands-free mode “for about 30 sec” before a first audible alert sounds in the passenger compartment. For Kelly Funkhouser, that means “that the car could travel more than half a mile (800m) on a freeway with hands off the wheel and the driver not paying attention at all — this is a risky situation”.

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Tesla’s Autopilot descends from its pedestal

A pioneer in driving aids with its Autopilot system, Tesla was in the sky in 2020, occupying second place on the podium. In 2022, the Autopilot only ranks 7th.

CONSUMER REPORTS ADAS ADA

According to Consumer Reports, the explanation for this drop in the ranking finds its answer in the fact that Tesla “hasn’t changed much of the basic functionality of Autopilot since its release”. Instead, the builder just stacked additional functions. As a result, the Autopilot does not allow “still not collaborative driving and does not have an effective driver monitoring system”. In the meantime, the competition has evolved at high speed by having upgraded their ACC and LCA systems. Result, “Tesla has simply fallen behind”.

Recall that Tesla vehicles are currently the subject of an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), focusing precisely on the relevance of the driver monitoring system.

Driving aids that put the driver to sleep

During our numerous car tests, we strive to list and test the driving aids on offer. If all of them can be deactivated, they are not all equal in their operation.

This is also the observation made by Consumer Reports for which many driving aids “are designed in such a way as to put drivers to sleep and give them the false impression that the car is taking care of everything for them”. Alas, these systems cannot handle everything, especially not the unexpected. Hence the need for the driver to remain attentive, even if he does not have his hands on the wheel.

To support this finding, Consumer Reports cites Pnina Gershon, a researcher at MIT AgeLab and the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. Using data, she observed “that drivers often become too dependent on driver assistance systems after a relatively short period of use”.

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