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OPINION | ADAS/AVs

As ADAS Market

Advances, Is Autonomy

Still the Right Goal?

By Orr Danon

A FEW YEARS AGO, many analysts would have predicted that the
2020s would be the decade of the autonomous vehicle.
But that dream seems to have been delayed. Instead, it looks like
advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) are slated to define
the coming decade of automotive innovation. Long seen as a mere
precursor to fully self-driving cars, ADAS is poised to gear up as
automakers shift their focus from full automation to applications
that can enhance vehicle safety and performance. Indeed,
MarketsAndMarkets forecasters project that the ADAS market will
surge 207% during this decade, rising from US$27 billion in 2020 to US$83 billion by 2030.
It’s time to stop thinking of ADAS as a pit stop toward autonomous vehicles and redefine ADAS
standards to reflect the industry’s new emphasis on improving the systems on the market today.

IMMENSE PROMISE
By de-emphasizing full autonomy, is the industry effectively giving up on the vision of safer
streets, long regarded as one of the central selling points of self-driving cars?
Far from it. ADAS can play a pivotal role in reducing the roughly 40,000 annual traffic deaths
in the U.S., most of which are caused by human error. AAA estimates that forward-collision
warning, automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assistance, and
blind-spot warning systems could potentially prevent 40% of crashes, 37% of injuries, and 29%
of accident deaths annually.
While fully autonomous vehicles may help drive down vehicle fatalities further, such cars
are still a long way off, especially given current technological, regulatory, and public accep-
tance barriers.
Rather than go all in on the quest for full autonomy, the industry should prioritize greater
integration of ADAS technologies, which can deliver real and widespread safety improvements
today — not many years down the line.
Europe is deemed a world leader in developing relevant testing protocols for ADAS and boasts
the world’s safest roads and fewest traffic deaths. A variety of factors help explain that distinc- Level 5 (full automation) — is also due for a
tion, but more advanced ADAS requirements have been credited with playing an important rethink. As currently constructed, this scale
role. Starting next year, all new models sold in Europe must come equipped with ADAS features, treats fully autonomous cars as the inevita-
including automatic emergency braking, driver distraction and fatigue warning, intelligent speed ble goal of all automotive innovation. But
assistance, and lane-keeping assistance. the ultimate purpose of automotive technol-
ogy is to make vehicles safer and to improve
THE OUTLOOK their performance.
The automotive market is cruising somewhere between Levels 1 (driver assistance) and 2 (partial A pragmatic scheme that focuses on a range
automation). The next leg will be moving to Levels 2 and 2+, which is forecast to become the of effective driver-assistance technologies is a
largest segment over the next 10 years. Numerous systems are under development to make this a smarter, more realistic approach.
reality, providing a glimpse at what ADAS advances will actually look like on the ground. When the automotive ecosystem sees
They include a system for vulnerable road user (VRU) detection pioneered by Humanising improved ADAS as a destination in itself —
Autonomy, which uses AI to generate faster, more accurate VRU collision warnings than current not just a pit stop on the way to the as-yet
ADAS systems provide. uncertain date when fully autonomous cars
Cadillac’s Super Cruise system, meanwhile, includes an infrared camera that verifies that are widely available — a new fleet of
a driver’s eyes are on the road, generating sensory warnings to recapture distracted drivers’ higher-performing, more sophisticated, and
attention. safer vehicles will hit the roads.
While private industry continues to develop ADAS solutions, policymakers should learn from That’s what makes the ADAS boom a phe-
the European example and incentivize greater ADAS adoption for the U.S. market — a step that nomenon worth roaring our engines about. ■ IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
would not only encourage more private sector innovation but also help save thousands of driv-
ers’ lives every year. Orr Danon is CEO and co-founder of Hailo.
The six-level scheme for automotive autonomy — ranging from Level 0 (no automation) to This article originally appeared on EE Times.

www.eetimes.eu | SEPTEMBER 2021