Cars equipped with ADAS, or Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, come with features like active park distance control, lane departure warning, and sensors to stop or slow vehicles in order to avoid a collision. When properly designed, these systems use a human-machine interface to improve the driver’s ability to react to hazards on the road.
Advanced Driver Assistance increases both reaction and safety potential through early warning and automated systems. Technological development and a boom in automation initiatives have significantly increased the popularity of these safety systems, yet drivers’ frustration due to the rising insurance premiums is exceeding both of the above reasons.
To help insurers with this task, insurance companies are working with carmakers on a risk score algorithm where both insurers and manufacturers collaborate to improve road safety and create customized auto insurance products.
In-Depth
Lack of attention while on the road is one of the biggest causes of road accidents. US statistics show that in more than 40 percent of car accidents, drivers failing to pay attention to the road was a key factor.
Smart tech may not be able to fill those gaps in our concentration, however, it can intervene to minimize the chances of crashing.
Today, approximately a quarter of new vehicles come with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) software meant to warn drivers of a potential collision. The beauty of these systems lies in applying the breaks if you fail to act. Nevertheless, more drivers are content with forward collision warning systems that provide warning signals without automatic braking.
By 2022 it’s estimated that every vehicle will be equipped with some form of AEB or ADAS tech, with an average of 1,7 systems installed per vehicle.
Recent research from top automotive industry leaders shows that Emergency Brake Assist alone helps reduce rear-end collisions rates by more than 30 percent.
Reducing Premiums
Mass application of smart safety systems is likely to be good news for both car insurance premiums and road safety.
Latest ADAS systems such as lane departure or forward departure warnings could decrease accident rates by 16.3 percent on highways and 11.6 on other roads. More advanced ADAS systems such as lane assistance and AEB could have a significant impact, reducing the accidents rate by 25.7 percent on highways and 27.5 percent on other roads.
Fewer accidents equal fewer insurance claims, which can, in turn, help reduce the cost of car insurance quotes for drivers. Research has shown that the improved road safety resulting from extensive ADAS adoption could help cut USD 20 billion from annual premiums by 2022.
Choices and implementation challenges
While advanced safety systems are available on the market, most drivers are spoilt for choice since they don’t know how to choose which would serve them best.
Moreover, even with the installation and application of these systems, there is the challenge of training drivers to use them to the fullest advantage in order to exploit the risk-limiting factors of the system features.