Driver Assist Systems: Do They Always Work?

Operating a vehicle (especially a large semi truck) comes with a lot of responsibility. Often, the main focus for semi-truck drivers is ensuring safety while handling such heavy equipment. Watching blind spots, dealing wind pushing your possibly hazardous equipment, and little cars zipping around? It’s a dangerous place on the roads. Manufacturers are looking to help drivers by decreasing the risk of danger and accidents. How?

By making things a bit more automated. With the goal of safety in mind, this is where driver assist systems come in.

Driver Assist Systems: The Basics

Driver-assist systems are a safety system installed in your vehicle that increases driver awareness and prevent accidents. Assistance can include lane departure detection, automatic braking, blind-spot detection, adaptive cruise control, drowsiness detection, intelligent speed control, and even partial autopilot.

None of these systems are intended to make a vehicle autonomous or drive itself. Rather, they are all in place to help the driver as they operate the car or truck. They do not entirely take the driver’s place of operation.

So, what’s the answer to the question: do driver-assist systems work perfectly? Well… simply, No. It can fail you. Those same systems that are meant to keep your truck in its lane or brake when spotting stationary objects still have the potential to fail. 

Even with a driver-assist system, operators can’t 100% rely on their machines to correct or protect them from things like exiting out of a lane or breaking before a stopped object. The keyword in Driver Assist Systems is “assist”; while the system can help warn you, it still needs you to drive and be alert!

Despite the common misconception, none of these cars currently have an autopilot function that allows you to act like a commercial pilot flying a plane.

In fact, most of these systems have taken “pilot” out of their name to avoid the idea of anyone thinking that they can put their vehicle on auto-pilot. In fact, Tesla’s autonomic system was named “Autopilot,” and is currently undergoing investigation, as it has lead to some fatal crashes.

The Flaws

AAA has also found that many of the systems don’t actually respond in real-life situations. The assistance system is there to sense trouble but sometimes works better in theory than practice. With automatic emergency braking, lane assist, and adaptive cruise control, all of the systems failed. In tests conducted by AAA, the cars swayed out of lanes. The automatic cars also had a difficult time with moderate traffic or busy intersections. Several automatic cars would have crashed if a simulated vehicle was presented to them. Drivers with driver assistance systems would have to take their own evasive action to avoid an accident.

As a result, automakers are being cautious. These manufacturers insist driver assisting systems are there only aid a driver. The system is not in place to replace drivers all-together. With that in mind, another concern is reliance on the assistance system to the point that the driver becomes lazy and inattentive.

So far, driver assist systems are a good way to help you be extra careful about the things you cannot see. These programs aren’t perfected, yet. As technology develops, we can easily imagine seeing these assistance systems become more complex and safer.

Till then, don’t rely on your vehicle to protect you entirely from danger.

So, have a fleet of trucks you need to finance, or some equipment loans you need to get capital for, fast?  TopMark Funding always works, unlike a lot of these driver-assist systems on the market. Even if your credit score is less than perfect, we can work with you to find a plan that fits your specific budget and needs. Take the safest route and go with TopMark today.