Assistance systems are designed to make driving safer. Noble goal, nice theory, but many drivers are annoyed by the electronic helpers. A current ÖAMTC survey of 860 members showed that almost half had already experienced several false reactions. No wonder this does not lead to unlimited trust in the technology.
Specifically, eleven percent have little or no trust in their car, and 35 percent trust it to some extent. Just over half (52 percent) consider assistance systems to be “very” or “rather trustworthy”. Many are not sure whether their assistance systems solve dangerous situations or sometimes cause them. The most frequently criticized is the abrupt intervention of the systems. Unnecessary emergency braking is one of the most dangerous whoops of electronics, after all it’s no fun if you run the risk of the person behind crashing into the rear. However, incorrect steering interventions can also lead to dangerous situations and were recorded by more than a quarter (27 percent) of those surveyed. At 52 percent, the most common are false acoustic warnings, which can simply be booked under “simply annoying”. ÖAMTC tests repeatedly prove the safety gain of such assistance systems, according to the club. “But the large number of signals that these systems constantly send out can also lead to excessive demands and false reactions behind the wheel,” says club traffic psychologist Marion Seidenberger. From the point of view of the mobility club, broad acceptance of driver assistants is an important step towards more traffic safety. The assistance system, the unknown feature A full 84 percent state that their vehicle has an assistance system. The most common include reversing cameras (70 percent), cruise control (63 percent) and intelligent lighting systems (46 percent). The majority of respondents (64 percent) say they know all of their vehicle’s signals. However, a sizeable third of those surveyed stated that they only partially knew the symbols/signs in their own car.Assistance required for newly typed passenger carsCars already need a large number of assistance systems in order to do well in the EuroNCAP rating. In the future, they will even be mandatory: from July 2022, new car types will have to show certain assistants when they are type-approved. According to the EU regulation, an intelligent speed assistant, reversing, lane departure and emergency braking assistants, drowsiness warning and an interface for alcohol-based immobilizers are then required, among other things. In view of the errors that are still common, however, one does not want to think of masses of autonomous cars…
source site-13