Inside the new tests that make ADAS systems that you will really want to use

What follows is the scenario where the first thing a driver does when getting into their car is disable as many ADAS features as possible. Al-Ani understands this, but believes that greater system configurability is the right way forward. “If the ALK [active lane keeping] It’s too sensitive, instead of turning it off you should be able to turn it down. BMW is getting very good at offering levels of configurability so the driver can set the system however they want and it stays that way. There is no need to reset it when restarting the car. Until ADAS has improved enough, that is a better condition.”

On the road with Thatcham

Thatcham Research’s event-based ADAS testing program is carried out primarily on public roads but also, for more controlled work, on a closed circuit. Three cars are used: a BMW i5, a Tesla Model Y and a MG ZS. As for their ADAS, says ADAS lead engineer Yousif Al-Ani, they represent about 10% of new cars.

Each car has a roof-mounted 360-degree lidar plus cameras inside to record the infotainment screen and ADAS functions. These provide front and side views of the road that are key to recording the presence of speed signs and lane markings and the position of the car in relation to them.

Driving the Model Y, Al-Ani showed how its ADAS can do things that prompt drivers to turn it off. The first was how, in autopilot mode, the car slowed down excessively around a sharp bend on a main road. Then, as he entered a built-up area and turned a corner, he braked excessively in front of a parked vehicle.

“This car has software designed solely to comply with EU regulations,” says Al-Ani. “In the slow queue we’ve joined, it’s brilliant, but for many drivers its unpredictability is enough to deter them from using it.”

Al-Ani criticizes the way Tesla’s system shuts down every time he makes the slightest correction: “It doesn’t cooperate with me, so I get frustrated and leave it off.”

Later, a bus enters our street from the right while, a little further ahead, a pedestrian crosses in front of us: “The car braked for the bus when it was not necessary and the steering correction was for the pedestrian who was still a safe distance away. Then the system disconnected, leaving us in a bad situation without much time to react. Working at its best, Tesla’s system offers real benefits, but drivers must understand its limitations.”