Relentless helpers

Guide: These assistance systems will be mandatory from 2024 - Relentless helpers

When it comes to road accidents, the European Union understandably doesn't take a joke. Back in 2018, the EU set itself the goal of halving the number of road deaths and serious injuries by 2030. The first successes on the way to achieving this goal are already visible: the number of road deaths in Europe has been falling since the turn of the millennium. By 2050, there should be no more fatal road accidents at all. A worthwhile goal, but one that cannot be achieved with fine words alone, but requires the further development of technology. To be precise, assistance systems that intervene as soon as man and machine find themselves in a dangerous situation.

In order to bring these systems into cars, the EU has defined in "Regulation 2019/2144 on type-approval requirements for motor vehicles and their trailers, and for systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles, with regard to their general safety and the protection of occupants and vulnerable road users" which assistance systems must be fitted to every newly registered passenger car and light commercial vehicle from July 7, 2024. In addition, it will not be possible to achieve a top rating in the prestigious NCAP test without electric assistants. For car manufacturers, these devices are part of the road to autonomous driving. If you look at the list, some of the assistance systems listed are already installed in most new vehicles.

Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) / speed warning system As soon as you drive too fast, the car alerts the driver with an acoustic or visual warning (on the instrument cluster display). The car does not brake or reduce power. The driver is still responsible for how far they press the accelerator pedal. However, for this very useful feature to function smoothly, up-to-date map material and traffic sign recognition that is as error-free as possible are required. The latter in particular does not always work perfectly. Accident data memory "Thank you very much," some of you will be thinking. "I wouldn't want to have a black box in my car that constantly stores my data." However, with this recording device you don't get Big Brother in your car, as the data is overwritten again after a few seconds. The recordings only remain in the memory in the event of an accident. This is why this system is also referred to as "event-related data recording (black box)". The following data is collected, among others: Position Braking Speed Inclination Recordings from the eCall system. Emergency Brake Assist As the name suggests, the system brakes automatically as soon as a collision is imminent. The hardware required for this is already installed in many cars and is used in adaptive cruise control systems, where the vehicle brakes and accelerates automatically depending on the traffic situation. Emergency lane departure warning Similar to the emergency brake assistant mentioned above, the lane departure warning system actively intervenes with an automatic steering movement (not just with warnings via a vibrating steering wheel) as soon as the vehicle is in danger of leaving its lane. This system is also already installed in many new cars, especially higher-priced ones. However, this is not a free ride, as the cameras and sensors do not always work, for example when road markings are poor. The system then reports this on the display. Every time the car is started, the system is armed again. Drowsiness and alertness warning system Humans are not machines. That's nothing new. The longer you drive, the more likely you are to get tired. The system monitors steering movements, for example. If these become jerkier, the algorithm assumes that your attention is waning. The fatigue and alertness warning system then intervenes and tells the driver to take a break. In some modern cars, a camera also monitors the driver's face and warns them with phrases such as "stay focused" as soon as they blink frequently and keep their eyes closed for too long. Emergency brake light The same applies to the emergency brake light as to the emergency brake assistant. Some of you may have noticed that the brake lights on the vehicle in front start to flicker in a similar way to an alarm flashing system, warning the traffic behind of a sharp reduction in speed. This useful device has already prevented several rear-end collisions. Device for installing an alcohol-sensitive immobilizer The EU stipulates that all new cars must have a standardized interface that enables an alcohol-sensitive immobilizer to be retrofitted. This means that such a device, which manufacturers such as Volvo have been offering for some time under the name "Alcoguard", is not mandatory. Reversing assist As the name suggests, reversing assist helps the driver to maneuver in order to avoid a collision. In modern cars, this is often done in conjunction with a camera and ultrasonic sensors. Tire pressure monitoring A flat tire at high speed can have fatal consequences. This is why sensors continuously monitor the tire pressure of all four tires and report even minor deviations immediately. This is particularly important for so-called run-flat tires, as without the technology the driver would notice the pressure drop too late or the tire would already be flying around his ears. This system has also been installed in cars for some time now.