{"id":140097,"date":"2019-10-03T12:51:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T16:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=140097"},"modified":"2019-10-03T17:00:26","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T21:00:26","slug":"pedestrian-safety-systems-dont-work-nearly-as-well-as-billed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2019\/10\/pedestrian-safety-systems-dont-work-nearly-as-well-as-billed\/","title":{"rendered":"Pedestrian Safety Systems Don\u2019t Work Nearly as Well as Billed"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_140099\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-140099\" style=\"width: 351px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/AAA-Pedestrian-Detection-Test.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-140099\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/AAA-Pedestrian-Detection-Test-300x164.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"351\" height=\"192\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-140099\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">AAA ran a number of different common scenarios to test the effectiveness of various pedestrian detection systems. The results were not encouraging.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em><strong>This story has bene updated with additional information.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>A growing number of vehicles are being equipped with advanced driver assistance systems, or ADAS, designed to reduce the risk of crashes. That includes technology meant to detect pedestrians, bicyclists and even large animals.<\/p>\n<p>But a new study by AAA warns that many of the pedestrian systems don\u2019t live up to their advanced billing and can fail in a number of situations, especially after dark.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a particular problem considering that pedestrian fatalities have been rising at an alarming rate over the past decade, in 2018 reaching a 28-year high that saw more than 6,000 deaths in the United States.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/2019\/06\/pedestrian-bicyclist-deaths-rise-in-2018\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em><strong>(For more on the surge in pedestrian, bicycle deaths, <\/strong><\/em><\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Click Here<em>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPedestrian fatalities are on the rise, proving how important the safety impact of these systems could be when further developed,\u201d said Greg Brannon, AAA\u2019s director of Automotive Engineering and Industry Relations. \u201cBut, our research found that current systems are far from perfect and still require an engaged driver behind the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The study, conducted jointly by the AAA and the Automobile Club of Southern California\u2019s Automotive Research Center, examined the effective of the pedestrian detection systems on four midsize sedans, the 2019 Chevy Malibu, 2019 Honda Accord, 2019 Tesla Model 3 and 2019 Toyota Camry. Working on a closed course using dummies, they examined a variety of common scenarios, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<figure id=\"attachment_133927\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-133927\" style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IIHS-2019-Pedestrian-test-BMW-fail.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-133927\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IIHS-2019-Pedestrian-test-BMW-fail-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"233\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-133927\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">AAA isn&#8217;t the only group to raise concerns about pedestrian detection technology. This BMW X1 fared poorly in a test by the IIHS.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 An adult crossing in front of a vehicle traveling at 20 mph and 30 mph during the day and at 25 mph at night.<\/li>\n<li>\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A child darting out from between two parked cars in front of a vehicle traveling at 20 mph and 30 mph.<\/li>\n<li>\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A vehicle turning right onto an adjacent road with an adult crossing at the same time.<\/li>\n<li>\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Two adults standing along the side of the road with their backs to traffic, with a vehicle approaching at 20 mph and 30 mph.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/2019\/06\/exterior-airbags-could-save-lives-of-passengers-and-pedestrians\/\"><em><strong>(Exterior Airbags Could Save Lives of Passengers and\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><b><i>Pedestrians)<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The systems generally worked well in some circumstances, notably when an adult crossed in front of a relatively slow-moving vehicle during daylight. But even then, they proved effective at completely preventing a collision just 40% of the time. As speeds rose, effectiveness fell, however, AAA noting that \u201cat the higher speed of 30 mph, most systems failed to avoid a collision with the simulated pedestrian target.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And even at just 20 mph, the systems failed to prevent a collision 88% of the time in a scenario in which a child darted out into the road from between two cars.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_139469\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-139469\" style=\"width: 351px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Mercedes-Benz-ESF-2019-driving-with-pedestrian.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-139469\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Mercedes-Benz-ESF-2019-driving-with-pedestrian-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"351\" height=\"234\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-139469\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of the concerns is what will happen when autonomous vehicles start rolling out. Will they do a better job at avoiding pedestrians?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Making matters worse, the two travel and safety groups reported that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In general, the systems were ineffective in all scenarios where the vehicle was traveling at 30 mph.<\/li>\n<li>\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At night, none of the systems detected or reacted to the adult pedestrian.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>TheDetroitBureau.com has reached out to the four automakers for response. Toyota offered up some insights and we will add comments from the others as they respond.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe remain committed to NHTSA\u2019s voluntary automatic emergency braking (AEB) goal established in 2016\u00a0and we have\u00a0made\u00a0AEB standard across most of our lineup.\u00a0IIHS\u00a0estimates\u00a0that\u00a0AEB\u00a0may help prevent 28,000 crashes and 12,000 injuries by 2025,\u201d Toyota said in a statement to TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt should be noted, in AAA\u2019s \u2018How do vehicles equipped with pedestrian detection systems perform when encountering an adult pedestrian crossing the roadway?\u2019 test the Toyota Camry stopped 100 percent of the time, with an average 4.60 feet clearance to the pedestrian.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/2019\/08\/deaths-caused-by-red-light-runners-hit-a-10-year-high\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em><strong>(Deaths caused by red light runners reach 10-year high.)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The AAA study isn&#8217;t the first to raise concerns about pedestrian detection systems. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety also has encountered mixes results in its own studies. Experts say such problems raise broader concerns for what will happen when autonomous vehicles, especially completely driverless models, start taking to the road in large numbers.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, the AAA cautions that neither motorists nor pedestrians should count on today\u2019s ADAS technologies to prevent a potential crash, instead remaining vigilant and acting on their own if a collision seems likely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pedestrian fatalities are rising fast but many new vehicles offer technology intended to prevent such collisions. But a new AAA study found pedestrian detection systems falling well short of expectations, reports TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11,13,12,9],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[118,292,151,318,138,121,137,312,291,295],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140097"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140097"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=140097"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=140097"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=140097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}