More haste, less speed?
Martin considers the impact of legislation introduced last year that mandated intelligent speed assist (ISA) technologies on all new models
Published: 07 August, 2023
To enhance the safety of UK roads and decrease road fatalities by 80%, significant changes are being made to road legislation. Since 6 July 2022, all newly launched car models in the UK must be equipped with intelligent speed assist (ISA) technologies.
However, this rule does not apply to existing models still being produced. The objective of this legislation is to reduce dangerous and unlawful speeding and enhance safety on the roads. After approximately one year since the implementation of this law, we will analyse its consequences and significance.
The new generation of vehicles has driving aids that fall into three categories: An automated beep or visual notification, a nudge on the pedals, steering wheel, or seat, or a reduction in engine power. These are meant to alert drivers when they are driving above the speed limit and promote a decrease in speed. Car manufacturers need to prepare for the mandatory implementation of these speed limiters on 7 July 2024, by understanding how they work and their consequences.
Process
These devices aim to encourage drivers to comply with the law instead of shocking or disturbing them. Using sensors, the technology can detect instances of a vehicle exceeding the speed limit and then initiate a three-step process to address the situation:
- Provide a subtle flashing symbol on the dashboard to a more pronounced haptic (physical) feedback mechanism, such as causing the accelerator pedal to judder
- Provide an urgent alarm and/or apply light pressure against the driver’s foot to force the driver to reduce speed
- Finally, if speed hasn’t been reduced, take direct control of the braking system until the vehicle’s speed is complying with the speed limit.
Although there are limiters in place, drivers have the ability to override them through a dashboard button, touchscreen menu, or heavy press on the accelerator, at least for the time being. This override option may be necessary in emergency situations where sudden acceleration could be the safer choice.
Although these aids are effective, their implementation raises concerns about data collection and storage. Vehicles need to download data to maintain their speed limit notifications. How are manufacturers addressing this data challenge? How often will vehicles update, and who will they subscribe to for this information? How will this system function for drivers in rural or remote areas without network coverage?
Regular and accurate updates to the system are crucial as demonstrated by the example of a stretch of motorway in Northampton. Even after the temporary speed limit due to roadworks was lifted, some cars continued to alert to the lower limit because their data was outdated. This emphasises the importance of update frequency and the challenges it presents.
To stay updated, vehicle manufacturers offer packages that include hotspot data, map updates, and tracking features for around £200 per year. It's uncertain if drivers will continue to subscribe, especially if they're low-income and facing a high-inflation economy that may require choosing between subscriptions and feeding their families.
As technology becomes more crucial for updates on our vehicles, dashboards and displays must also evolve. To ensure that speed limit notifications work correctly, cars need intelligent dashboards instead of traditional dials and small info boxes like heads up displays (HUDs). This means that there will likely be an increase in advanced in-car technology, which raises questions about how user-friendly these systems will be. Can these technologies be made affordable for economy vehicles? Will they work well for drivers who are neurodivergent or have visual/hearing impairments?
The vehicle's in-car sensors and GPS will gather data to aid in crash investigations. This process is expected to improve the accuracy of investigations, increase the likelihood of prosecuting reckless driving, and eventually decrease insurance premiums. However, it is important to consider how data privacy will be upheld.
It's important to consider whether the technologies have undergone sufficient testing and what risks may arise from malicious intent. For example, certain systems rely on camera-based technology to read road signs and interpret speed limits. However, if someone were to intentionally alter a sign and change a speed limit from 60 to 80, what would happen? It's crucial that these systems are extensively tested to ensure they can handle such scenarios. One solution could be to combine GPS data with camera readings, allowing vehicles to cross-verify the speed limit and eliminate the risk of being misled by a modified road sign.
It is important for drivers and other road users to keep in mind that driving aids are only meant to assist them. These aids do not excuse drivers from adhering to traffic laws. Drivers are responsible for driving safely and being aware of their speed, particularly in areas with sudden changes in speed limit due to road work. The technology may not always quickly update speed limit changes or could have incorrect data.
Responsibility
As technology becomes more widespread, repair centres and bodyshops have a greater responsibility to ensure that everything is properly calibrated and functioning correctly. If a camera or sensor is miscalibrated or malfunctioning, it could greatly affect how well these systems work. If repairs are not completed within strict tolerances and there is a breach in the speed limit, who will be held responsible?
Manufacturers must thoroughly test these technologies under a wide range of driving conditions to ensure their effectiveness in delivering accurate speed limit notifications. These systems must remain responsive and reliable in various weather conditions, including bright sunlight or foggy winter mornings. Environmental factors like heavy rain, snow, dirt, and mud should not affect their performance. Moreover, they must be capable of withstanding different traffic densities, from rural roads to busy city intersections. Comprehensive testing is crucial not only for successful implementation but also for increasing drivers' trust in these speed limit notification systems and promoting safer driving behaviours.
As we near July 2024, when all newly manufactured vehicles are required to comply with these regulations, we can expect to see more drivers becoming proficient in using these technologies and more repair centres needing to acquire new skills, tools, and training. This new law is a major step towards promoting safer driving.
- IN THE AIR: Radar love
RADAR is an asset to drivers as it can quickly make measurements of relative speed while providing a range, so it knows how fast an object (car, van, human dog, etc) is moving towards or away from the vehicle. In comparison, cameras and LiDAR need to take multiple images over some time to estimate the speed of an object, which is less efficient.
Because RADAR is capable of several functions that help keep drivers as well as other road users and pedestrians safe, it is more important than ever that technicians have the knowledge and skills to understand these systems and complete right-first-time calibrations.
Accident prevention
The first facet relates to accident prevention. With RADAR being able to perform calculations quickly, it means the other systems it works with can be brought into play sooner, such as the brakes being applied when RADAR detects the car is approaching another vehicle ahead or getting the car to accelerate when traffic allows. This is highlighted by Ford’s BlueCruise system, which is available in the Mustang Mach-E electric, that brings ‘hands-free’ driving to UK roads for the first time and uses the same technology as ‘normal’ driver assistance systems that use RADAR. However, what you do have to remember with BlueCruise is that the addition of a driver monitoring system ensures the driver is aware of what is going on at all times.
Safety
The second and probably most important aspect of RADAR, which drivers tend not think about, is how it helps with safety. This is highlighted in two distinct ways; The first is the cross-traffic alert RADAR, which is on the front of the vehicle. This helps drivers when pulling out at a junction because it can spot motorbikes, pedal bikes, or other vehicles that the driver might not see when pulling out, so it will either warn the driver or put the vehicle’s brakes on. Alongside this, there is RADAR at the rear of the vehicle, which helps when reversing out of blind driveways or into a parking spaces because if it detects something it will stop the vehicle.
Another benefit of RADAR is that it is not affected by natural issues that might afflict a vehicle’s camera. An example of this is a camera that is covered in tree sap after the car was parked under a tree for a few days. The camera is affected by the sap, but the RADAR is not, and this can lead to the car not travelling in a straight line. This results in the ADAS system being overridden by the driver to prevent issues caused by the camera. So, should technicians advise drivers that this can happen, so they are aware of what to look out for if it happens to them?
Calibration
Finally, because RADAR is important to the ADAS systems within the vehicle, it must be calibrated correctly. We are now seeing a move away from a static calibration that uses a jig for calibrations to dynamic calibrations that take place out on the road. This move will make the calibration quicker and, in turn, will reduce the key-to-key times as well as the monetary cost of the job.
There’s no doubt RADAR is an important feature of cars because it does its job very well. Given its importance, bodyshops and repair centres can play a role in educating drivers about what it does, and the technicians must have the necessary skills to calibrate it correctly as a key part of ADAS systems throughout the vehicle.
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- The importance of being up-to-date
There’s no denying that the future of the automotive aftermarket is changing. As the government’s net zero target draws closer, cleaner road transport will mean replacing around 32 million internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles on UK roads with low-carbon alternatives. Of these replacements, many will be hybrid or EV.
This means technicians will need to be well-versed in new technologies – and this need is happening at pace. The good news is that training is more easily and readily available to aftermarket professionals, through organisations such as the IMI to ensure we futureproof the industry.
Good business sense
As margins for modern garages and workshops are tight, having staff off-site training is a day lost in the workshop. But, with the regular technological advancements, it is becoming more and more important for technicians to ensure they are staying up-to-date with the latest training. It makes good business sense for garages and workshops to invest time and money in training and education to replenish the talent pool and build up its staff for the future of mobility for achieving quality and effectiveness in the workshop.
A recent report by the Social Market Foundation found there is currently a surplus of well-trained technicians to service and repair EVs for existing and near-future demand. While this is a welcome finding for existing and prospective EV drivers of today, this progress should not be taken for granted. Particularly as the same report explains how by 2030 the industry is set to face a shortfall of 25,100 EV-trained TechSafe technicians, which raises concerns for the safety and mobility of the UK and achieving net zero targets.
This points to just how important it is to ensure technicians are always keeping up to date with training in the latest technologies. It’s not just the electric vehicle revolution that has forced the need to upskill technicians; Training has always been key. An untrained technician can be detrimental to a garage as they may not understand how to diagnose or repair jobs. This could lead to unhappy customers, loss of business – or even injuries to employees by carrying out work the wrong way.
On the flip side, by having well-trained staff on the latest technology can help increase the reputation of the garage, lead to more bookings and even unlock new business opportunities. Whether that’s a specialist garage in EVs, fleets or future mobility such as hydrogen fuel or self-driving cars!
Arguably, on-the-job training is key, and nothing can replace practical experience, but having background knowledge learnt in a classroom can be beneficial in helping technicians understand not just how to repair a problem but understand why it happened. This means there is less chance of motorists coming back to the garage with repeat problems on their vehicle – enhancing the customer experience and garage reputation.
Challenges and demands
As garages become busier, good communication with customers is more important than ever. Particularly when it comes to effectively communicating complex repair jobs, in a timely and efficient manner. Good communication means happy customers and repeat business, so ensuring staff are trained on effective communication is key, as well as using tools such as garage management systems to keep in touch with customers when their vehicle is in for repairs.
By keeping up with the latest training and upskilling, technicians will always be trained to complete work to industry standards, contributing to the overall success of the garage. As the automotive aftermarket is evolving rapidly, introducing new technologies, standards and systems, new challenges and demands are placed on workshops and garages. So, it’s essential for businesses to gain, train and retain talent in the industry, constantly, to remain competitive.
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• Improve services for DVSA customers
• Make road transport greener and healthier
• Harness the potential of new technology and data
• Grow and level up the economy
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