Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) Performance Variability with Partial Overlap Targets

While various Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) features have become more prevalent in passenger vehicles, their ability to potentially avoid or mitigate vehicle crashes has limitations. Due to current technological limitations, forward collision mitigation technologies such as Forward Collision Warning (FCW) and Automated Emergency Braking (AEB) lack the ability to consistently perform in many unique and challenging scenarios. These limitations are often outlined in driver manuals for ADAS equipped vehicles. One such scenario is the case of a stationary lead vehicle at the side of the road. This is generally considered to be a challenging scenario for FCW and AEB to address because it can often be difficult for the system to discern this threat accurately and consistently from non-threatening roadway infrastructure without unnecessary or nuisance system activations. This is made more difficult when the stationary lead vehicle is only partially in the driving lane and not directly in the forward path, as is the case in the current FCW and AEB confirmation test protocols used by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Partial overlap tests are carried out by Euro New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), however data has not been published to date showing the effect this has on performance.

A test series was designed to investigate the effect of variable overlap, with stationary lead vehicle targets, on the triggering and timing of warnings presented by forward collision mitigation technology.