The name game

These are official terms for advanced auto safety systems

Advanced driver-assist systems, known in the industry as ADAS that are designed to help avoid or at least minimize the severity of collisions, are fast becoming standard or optional on new models in all size, price and vehicle classes. Unfortunately, there’s little consistency in the industry when it comes to naming these important features.

For example, one automaker calls technology that can automatically slam on the brakes to avoid a crash, a “Dynamic Brake System.” Another uses the term “Collision Intervention,” and yet another calls it “Autonomous Braking.” Its proper name is “Automatic Emergency Braking.”

To help the industry sort through this muddle, a consortium of safety and automotive organizations compiled an “official” list of terminology for the technology. It’s hoped the industry will begin to eschew its proprietary jargon for such systems and adopt the standardized vocabulary moving forward for these and other driver-assist systems:

• Forward Collision Warning. This system uses sensors to monitor the road ahead. It will warn the driver via audible, visual and/or tactile alerts if it determines that the vehicle is closing in quickly on a slow-moving or stopped car, and a collision is possible.

• Automatic Emergency Braking. This system goes a step farther and will automatically apply the brakes at full force if the driver isn’t reacting quickly enough. One type of AEB system works at higher speeds to help prevent or minimize the effects of more serious collisions. Another type operates at lower speeds to avoid fender benders. Some low-speed systems can detect the presence of pedestrians and bicyclists in a vehicle’s path.

• Adaptive Cruise Control. Often bundled with Automatic Emergency Braking, it controls a vehicle’s throttle and braking to maintain both a set speed and distance from the traffic ahead on the highway. More advanced systems can operate in stop-and-go traffic.

• Blind Spot Warning. Here, small cameras or sensors are used to detect the presence of other vehicles to the side and rear the driver may not be able to see in a mirror. If another vehicle is detected, a warning light will illuminate on or near the side mirrors. The system will give a more insistent alert not to change lanes if the driver switches on the turn signal. Some blind-spot systems can intervene with subtle steering or brake input to help prevent the driver from perilously changing lanes.

• Rear Cross-Traffic Warning. This system will warn the driver if another car is approaching into the vehicle’s path while backing out of a garage or parking space. Some models further include a Rear Automatic Braking system that will apply the brakes briefly to prevent the vehicle from hitting another car or obstacle while in reverse.

• Lane Departure Warning. This system will issue an alert should the vehicle inadvertently touch or cross roadway lane markers at set speeds. The warning will not activate if the turn signals

are engaged, however, which would be the proper course of action when changing lanes. Some lane departure warning systems can intervene with light steering and/or braking responses to direct the vehicle back into the center of the lane.

• Lane Keeping Assistance. This technology automatically controls a vehicle's steering to help keep it centered within lane markers, usually while driving on the highway, and with the driver's hands on the steering wheel. As with a lane-departure warning system, it utilizes forward-facing cameras to keep an electric eye on the markers.