Effects of ADAS: Findings in literature and SWOT-analysis

There have been quite a few studies of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and In-Vehicle Information Systems (IVIS) conducted in several countries during the last 10 years. Several methods have been used with some of the systems, e.g. Intelligent Speed Adaptation, ISA. There are, however, some systems of which only a couple of evaluation studies were found in international databases. Most of the studied systems must be installed into the vehicle as an original accessory. Naturally, those systems are going to become general in the new, more expensive vehicles first. However, a good example of the retrofitting accessory is ISA, which can be installed into vehicles later. That is a good development trend for ISA as it has been found to have a great potential to reduce speed-related accidents. In the countries with quite an old fleet of cars retrofitting is the only way to wide scale implementation of the systems in the next few years. Of course, all the retrofitting devices should be carefully tested in real traffic to ensure their real effects of driver behaviour, interaction in traffic and traffic safety. Advertisements typically promise quite much regarding new telematic systems. So do the evaluation studies of the car manufactures. Clearly, less of the effects have typically been found in the studies conducted by independent research units. It is, however, not totally clear how the systems will in practice affect the drivers’ behaviour with and without the system installed, and what effect they will have on interaction in traffic and therefore on traffic safety in the system level. In addition, there are still only few studies on the interaction of different systems on the drivers' workload and changes in the driving task. Another matter to keep in mind is risk compensation. ABS-brakes and traditional ways of vision enhancement (e.g. reflectors on the road borders) are good examples of that.