Driver Assistance Systems: Invisible Lifesavers
Author: Thorsten Rienth
Emergency braking and lane-keeping assistance, fatigue detection, or ESP - driver assistance systems prevent accidents or minimize their consequences. Test laboratories like those operated by DEKRA are the backbone of their technical development.
Nowadays, cars are capable of much more than just driving. They actively assist drivers, for example: driver assistance systems maintain distance, keep the car in lane, or brake in an emergency. Often, they do so before the driver can even react. What started out as a convenience feature has long since evolved into safety-related standards developed by car manufacturers' R&D departments. As virtual co-pilots, these systems scan the vehicle's immediate surroundings and, increasingly, the vehicle itself. “Ideally, their interventions should prevent accidents or, if an accident does occur, at least minimize its consequences,” explains Christoph Bahnert, an expert in driver assistance systems and automated driving at the DEKRA Technology Center.
Driver assistance systems on the rise
The EU Commission estimates that driver assistance systems alone could prevent more than 25,000 traffic fatalities and at least 140,000 serious injuries by 2038. As a result, legally binding requirements have now been introduced across the EU: new cars have to be equipped with emergency braking and lane-keeping assistants as well as intelligent speed warning systems, among other features. The same applies to adaptive brake lights, fatigue detection via camera, reversing assistance, an interface for alcohol-sensitive immobilizers, and an accident data recorder. For caravans, the requirements will apply starting July 2026.
At the same time, larger quantities are making many advanced assistance systems increasingly affordable, which is why manufacturers are increasingly installing them as a standard feature in compact and small cars.
Driver Assistance Systems: human factor remains a risk
But no matter how sophisticated the technology of cameras, radar, ultrasound, and microprocessors has become, the human factor remains a risk factor. This is due to two main reasons, as expert Bahnert explains. “Some people overestimate themselves and their own reflexes. They ignore warnings, initially override minor assistance system interventions, or even switch them off completely if possible.” Others apparently trust their co-pilots blindly. Then their gaze wanders off into the landscape or onto their smartphone. “This creates the delusion that the car is already taking care of everything.”
Either approach is misguided, Bahnert emphasizes. The systems' sensors detect and respond to potential hazards in fractions of a second—without distraction or fatigue, and thus more reliably than humans often can. However, blind reliance on assisted driving functions is also unhelpful. "This type of drivers tends to no longer focus their full attention on the road. This generally prolongs reaction times at the wheel.“ Bahnert is not accusing anyone of malicious intent or general ignorance. “The problem is that many drivers have never experienced these systems in their driver training – simply because they didn't exist at the time.”
It is important to bear in mind that every assistance system has its strengths and weaknesses. Lane-keeping assistants and emergency braking systems do not respond perfectly in every situation. Lane-keeping assistance systems, for example, only work on well-marked roads. Emergency braking systems do not reliably detect every obstacle. Conversely, false alarms cannot be ruled out. “As the name suggests, these systems are designed to assist. They do not replace attention.”
Advanced driver assistance systems: How DEKRA conducts testing
Bahnert knows firsthand what the systems can and cannot do. His workplace is located in the state-of-the-art DEKRA Technology Center near Klettwitz in Brandenburg. The facility is accredited as a Euro NCAP laboratory for active safety systems and conducts consumer protection tests on cars, vans, and trucks. NCAP stands for New Car Assessment Programme. It is an independent testing procedure for evaluating vehicle safety through crash tests and driving tests. The systems undergo a clearly structured and comprehensive testing procedure. It takes into account both electronic components and their interaction with the vehicle – and both in dynamic driving tests such as intersection scenarios and other complex traffic situations.
Ensuring Road Safety with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) Testing:
www.dekra.com/adas-testing
“As the name suggests, these systems are designed to assist. They do not replace attention.”
Christoph Bahnert, expert in driver assistance systems and automated driving at the DEKRA Technology Center
From data loggers to long-term testing: safety at all levels
“The systems have to recognize different traffic situations and respond appropriately,” explains Bahnert. “We simulate vehicles and test objects such as pedestrians or cyclists, often using remote-controlled platforms to replicate complex traffic situations involving multiple participants." For well-founded evaluations, data loggers and measurement technology systems record all relevant parameters such as reaction times, braking forces, distance measurements, and intervention frequencies. Long-term tests supplement these so-called real-time tests in order to statistically determine reliability and failure rates.
Expert tip: increased safety with assistance systems
Can he offer any advice that most drivers may not be aware of? Without hesitation, Bahnert responds, “Firstly, keep the sensors clean, and secondly, be aware that vehicle maintenance is essential today, particularly due to software updates.” These are aspects that will become increasingly important in the future, according to the expert. “The active driver assistance systems installed nowadays pave the way for highly automated driving and ultimately autonomous vehicles.”
With state-of-the-art measurement technology, realistic tests, and comprehensive expertise, DEKRA inspectors ensure that driver assistance systems not only provide comfort but, above all, genuine safety. This makes every vehicle an active lifesaver on the road. More information is available
here.