Intelligent car systems: can they be blindly trusted? | Business

Solutions such as video surveillance cameras that are useful for parking, driving assistants that help keep a traffic lane or keep a safe distance from other vehicles have already become commonplace in many newer cars.

However, Raimondas Bieliauskas, head of the vehicle claims administration department of the insurance company ERGO, says that although such systems are indeed useful and can help prevent traffic accidents, you should not trust them alone for your own safety and that of other road users.

Technology is no substitute for driver vigilance

According to Raimonds Bieliauskas, Head of ERGO’s Vehicle Claims Administration Department, as drivers rely more and more on systems that automatically straighten the steering wheel or brake the car when it gets too close to an obstacle, it is easy to forget that a person is fully responsible for driving the car, at least for now. .

“When you know that smart digital systems are helping you along the way, it’s easy to lose your vigilance and relax too much.” The steering wheel is often held less firmly, perhaps with only one hand, attention is diverted to extraneous activities and less attentive to what is happening on the road. However, driving assistants are definitely not omnipotent and there are situations on the road when only the skill of the driver can avoid an accident. Also, getting too used to the help of electronic systems can make it more challenging to get behind the wheel of a car that doesn’t have such solutions. Therefore, it is important not to forget that technologies are only assistants, and the driver is a person who needs to concentrate on the events on the road”, notes R. Bieliauskas.

Sometimes it doesn’t help, it hinders

What’s more, according to the ERGO representative, in some cases, driving assistants can even be a hindrance on the road. For example, in order to go around a pothole on the road, you may have to “sneak” out of the lane a little. The system starts to send an audible signal and thus scare the driver or even straighten the steering wheel itself and cause a dangerous situation.

“To avoid this, drivers must always turn on their turn signal when going around an obstacle. Then the system and other road users know that a conscious maneuver is being performed. This is also required by road traffic rules. True, intelligent systems are still not always able to properly assess the situation.

For example, during road works, traffic is often diverted in such a way that cars have to “climb” onto horizontal road markings, which immediately activates the system. As a result, you may have to drive a considerable section of the road with an accompanying annoying beep or resisting the car’s efforts to adjust the steering wheel,” says R. Bieliauskas.

According to the expert, drivers can also be disturbed by the abundance of various messages and information presented on the screen of the car’s computer system. It can make it difficult to concentrate on the road. This task is further complicated by the use of multimedia and navigation systems.

Helps reduce risks, but does not eliminate them

However, according to the insurer’s representative, the constantly improving smart systems in cars are useful and help to increase road safety and avoid accidents. You just need to know how to use them properly and not abuse their capabilities.

“Various driving assistants and other safety systems in cars should be viewed as an auxiliary safety measure, not a guarantor of safety or a reason to behave less responsibly on the road.

It is clear that, for example, parking assistants and video cameras help to avoid minor traffic accidents, while solutions for speeding warnings, blind spot monitoring or automatic braking when getting too close to other vehicles reduce the risk of dangerous traffic accidents. However, it is not completely eliminated”, emphasizes R. Bieliauskas.