NEW YORK, May 22 — The American Automobile Association put three different manufacturers’ driver assistance software programs through their paces to assess the risk of crashes in real-life scenarios, such as passing a cyclist and driving behind a slower car. Although risks are rare, these new technologies were not found to systematically prevent collisions.
Their tests revealed that vehicles equipped with active driver assistance systems were not always able to consistently avoid collisions. For example, in the case of a cyclist crossing the test vehicle’s lane, a third of the tests ended in an accident. In contrast, when a cyclist was riding in the same direction in the lane in front of the test vehicle, there were no collisions. The tests also showed that one head-on collision occurred out of 15 tests with an oncoming vehicle in the traffic lane.
The study arrives at a time when Mercedes-Benz is launching its Drive Pilot automated driving system in Germany, the very first Level 3 system marketed in the world, a further step towards full autonomy.