Tesla's Autopilot, Renault's Easy Drive, or even Drive Pilot at Mercedes, driving assistants are now very widespread in the car fleet. Small jewels of innovation, they already promise semi-autonomous driving, even if some of them have already caused accidents.
Driver assistance systems have trouble dealing with situations emergency
Thus, according to a report issued last August by the NHTSA, the American equivalent of Road Safety, at least 11 crashes or fire starts involving parked or parked emergency vehicles have indeed been reported, all potentially linked Tesla Autopilot Level 2 assist features.
A new study carried out by the American Automobile Association (AAA) has once again cast doubt on these technologies. For its research, the organization used a 2020 Tesla Model 3 with Autopilot, a 2021 Subaru Forester with EyeSight, and a Hyundai Santa Fe with Highway Driving Assist.
A series of tests was then launched, featuring a fictional car and a model on a bicycle. In routine scenarios, the pilot assistance systems handled the situation perfectly well.
On the other hand, things got complicated in the face of so-called borderline cases. Clearly, the car and the cyclist disembark at the very last moment, leaving only a fraction of a second for the system to decide. These situations each time led to collisions.
Which makes the AAA conclude in a very mixed way:
While it is encouraging that these driving systems have been successful in spotting slow-moving cars and cyclists in the same lane, the inability to spot a crossing cyclist or an oncoming vehicle is alarming.
The association therefore asks manufacturers to rectify the situation as soon as possible because “a frontal accident is the deadliest, and these systems should be optimized for situations where they can be most useful. »
Tesla, for his part, has never claimed the contrary. In a March letter to U.S. lawmakers, Rohan Patel, Tesla's senior director of public policy and business development, said Autopilot improves customers' ability to drive more safely. However, these systems should “require constant monitoring and attention from the driver”.
