Commercial Vehicles Enter the Era of Mandatory ADAS Installation, Ensuring Road Safety

Autonomous driving has emerged from the realm of science fiction to become a tangible technological reality. While fully autonomous driving is yet to be achieved, the development of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) has progressed rapidly.

As a transitional technology upgrading traditional vehicles to intelligent ones, ADAS has been widely deployed in mass-produced vehicles over the past two years, becoming a standard feature in an increasing number of new vehicles, driven by the rapid development of automotive electronics and the continuous improvement of safety standards and consumer demands.

What is ADAS?

ADAS, short for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, primarily collects environmental data both inside and outside the vehicle through various onboard sensors. It processes static and dynamic object recognition, detection, and tracking, enabling drivers to detect potential dangers at the earliest opportunity and take corresponding measures to enhance driving safety.

In the field of autonomous driving, ADAS mainly covers the SAE L0~L2 levels and is widely regarded as a transitional technology for achieving autonomous driving. According to the definition provided by Wikipedia, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems typically include navigation and real-time traffic systems (TMC), Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA), vehicle networking, Lane Keeping Assist (LKA), night vision systems, adaptive lighting control, pedestrian protection systems, traffic sign recognition (TSR), driver fatigue detection, downhill control systems, electric vehicle warning systems, Lane Departure Warning Systems (LDW), Forward Collision Warning Systems (FCW), Blind Spot Detection Systems (BSD), Lane Change Assist Systems (LCA), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), and Automatic Parking Systems (APS), among others.

Strong Demand for ADAS Technology in Commercial Vehicles

According to statistics from the World Health Organization, traffic accidents have become the "number one killer" worldwide. In China, traffic accidents reach as high as 500,000 cases annually, with an average of over 100,000 fatalities each year, ranking first in the world for more than a decade. Many serious traffic accidents involve commercial vehicles.

Take trucks in commercial vehicles, for example; they have a very high accident rate. According to statistics from the Traffic Management Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, in 2016, there were a total of 50,400 road traffic accidents caused by trucks nationwide, accounting for 30.5% of the total number of automobile accidents, far exceeding the proportion of trucks in the total vehicle population.

Research shows that 93% of accidents are caused by human factors, with only 7% attributed to other factors such as road conditions and vehicle malfunctions. Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has published an analysis of survey data on driver habits, distractions, and collision causes, showing that nearly 80% of collisions result from driver negligence in the 3 seconds before the incident. The research proves that:

• Talking on the phone (increases risk by 30%)

• Dialing a phone (increases risk by 300%)

• Drowsiness (increases risk by 400% and accounts for 23% of collision and minor collision causes)

• Holding a mobile object by hand (increases risk by 900%)

In addition to raising driver safety awareness, taking proactive safety measures and enhancing objective supervision and driver assistance are recognized effective solutions to these high proportion causes.

Installing ADAS in vehicles can significantly improve road safety. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in the United States has published findings from its latest research: Collision avoidance systems greatly reduce the incidence of traffic accidents. Vehicles equipped with warning systems experience a reduction in single-vehicle, sideswipe, and frontal collision accidents by 11%, and collision prevention technology reduces the incidence of similar injury accidents by 21%.

ADAS Officially Enters the Era of Mandatory Installation

Reducing the accident rate has always been a policy concern. In December 2016, the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Promoting Reform and Development in the Field of Safety Production" stipulated that criminal liability for production safety accidents should be established. Traffic safety, with commercial vehicles as the key regulatory focus, became one of the three major key areas. In April 2017, the "Safety Technical Conditions for Operating Passenger Vehicles" was officially implemented, explicitly requiring that "passenger vehicles with a length greater than 9 meters should be equipped with Forward Collision Warning Systems (FCWS) and Lane Departure Warning Systems (LDWS)." In June 2018, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport issued a notice on promoting the application of intelligent video surveillance and alarm technology, requiring the installation of intelligent video surveillance and alarm devices on existing class III or above scheduled passenger vehicles, tourist charter vehicles, hazardous goods road transport vehicles, rural passenger transport vehicles, and heavy-duty commercial vehicles. Newly entering the road transport market, vehicles categorized as "two passengers and one danger" should be equipped with intelligent video surveillance and alarm devices to achieve automatic identification of unsafe driving behaviors by drivers and real-time alarm.