Remember the spaceships precisely dodging asteroids in “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back”? Your fleet of vehicles can dodge collisions the same way using a collision avoidance system. Let’s understand its components, benefits and how it can increase safety and streamline fleet management.
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Article Roadmap
- What Is a Collision Avoidance System?
- Importance
- How Does It Work?
- Components
- Benefits
- Challenges
- Future Innovations
- Next Steps
What Is a Collision Avoidance System?
A collision avoidance system, also known as a crash avoidance or forward collision warning (FCW) system, is a vehicle safety and accident prevention solution that helps avoid collisions. The capabilities of these solutions vary. Some send alerts or warn drivers in case of a hazard, whereas others take control of the vehicle by overriding the driver’s commands to avoid a crash.
Industries that use this system to ensure public and asset safety include trucking, fleet, heavy commercial vehicle (HGV), warehousing, automotive, supply chain management, procurement, eCommerce and transportation.
Importance
Drivers and vehicles are the greatest resources of a fleet management business. As fleet managers, your primary focus should be ensuring driver safety by implementing best driving practices and mitigating factors that cause accidents. Implementing a collision avoidance system along with fleet management software can be a great initial step towards achieving that.
Collision avoidance systems not only reduce the severity of accidents but also keep drivers and vehicles productive on the road. They can significantly bring down accidents and downtime costs while increasing profitability. Additionally, they help minimize maintenance costs and liability.
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How Does It Work?
A collision avoidance system assists the driver in responding to potentially hazardous incidents on the road. It uses radars, sensors, cameras, GPS and artificial intelligence to monitor vehicle movement and driver blind spots and detect potential hazards.
After detecting a hazardous situation, it responds primarily in two ways:
Provides Alerts and Warnings
The system alerts the driver about the risk through sound, vibration or lights. It also provides obstacle warnings if the vehicle has front and back cameras. Some systems use AI technology, GPS, telematics and dashcams to determine the location and analyze other driving conditions before generating alerts.
Takes Control of the Vehicle
Some systems override the drive and take control of the vehicle seconds before a potential collision. This helps minimize the impact of the accident. It also mitigates the possibility of human error in these tense situations.
Collision avoidance systems can, for instance, automatically apply brakes or steer the vehicle in a different direction to mitigate obstacles if the driver is unresponsive.
Key Components
The components of a collision avoidance system fall into two categories: One set alerts the drivers, and the other set assists them. Both components typically use radars, cameras and sensors for the best assistance.
For Alerts
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)
These systems primarily use front cameras and radars to detect dangerous obstacles close to the vehicle and generate alerts for the driver.
Cross Traffic Warning
It uses radars to detect whether other vehicles or pedestrians are approaching your vehicle from either side. The system immediately sends sound and visual alerts on the rear camera display.
Blind Spot Warning (BSW)
Blind spots are tricky places where drivers can’t see through mirrors. Other vehicles approaching from these spots have more chances of being missed by the driver. The system can detect other vehicular movements in blind spots and alert drivers about them.
Pedestrian Detection Systems
A collision avoidance system uses sensors to monitor the trajectory ahead and sends alerts to slow down or brake if it detects pedestrians in front of the car.
Lane Departure Warning
These systems help you avoid crashes caused by departing or drifting from your lane. They send visual warnings if changing lanes is unsafe due to other vehicles approaching.
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For Assistance
Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB)
The software takes control of the vehicle and applies emergency brakes if the sensor detects a close object or collision. Properly timed braking minimizes the severity of the accident.
Parking Assist
This system allows vehicles to steer into parking spaces using sensors and rear-view cameras. However, the driver can manually control the vehicle’s speed.
Adaptive Cruise Control
Radars and lasers help adjust the car’s speed automatically to ensure a safe distance from both the vehicle in front and behind. The system can also increase and decrease speed based on road conditions.
Rear Automatic Emergency Braking
Like automatic emergency braking, this feature works specifically when the vehicle reverses. It detects vehicles, pedestrians or objects behind the car while backing up using sensors and radars and applies brakes automatically.
Electronic Stability Control (ESC)
In case of a loss of traction, the system automatically analyzes which wheels require braking and which need acceleration to stabilize. It then applies these measures accordingly to regain control of the vehicle.
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Primary Benefits
A collision avoidance system not only protects your assets but also ensures public safety. It also delivers better cost savings and profitability to your business.
Safeguard Your Assets
These systems provide the best protection for two of your most important assets: drivers and vehicles. Detecting potential dangers and taking timely actions mitigates the chances of damage. They also promote and assist drivers in adhering to best practices.
Reduce Collision Severity
Even if crashes are unavoidable, a collision avoidance system can take actions to reduce their severity or mitigate the collision’s impact. These actions include both warning the driver and automatically performing emergency tasks like braking or maneuvering.
Improve Public Safety
The system increases awareness and facilitates proactive measures, like monitoring pedestrian movement, to mitigate collision risks and enhance road safety. Besides promoting public safety, it also minimizes liability for your organization.
Minimize Costs
Save repair, downtime and accident costs by minimizing the chances of accidents and promoting best practices. Your vehicle can also qualify for lower insurance premiums if it uses a collision avoidance system.
Challenges
While collision avoidance systems can revolutionize fleet safety, they still grapple with some technological challenges you must address.
- Excessive dependence on these systems can result in reduced driver attention on the road. Driver inattention is a leading factor in crashes and near-crashes. However, warning systems detecting wavering attention can mitigate these issues.
- Extreme weather conditions like rain, storms and fog can sometimes prevent sensors from working properly, generating false alerts.
- Unpredictable pedestrian or other vehicle movements can confuse automated systems, leading to malfunctions.
- Using the internet and endpoints to function can make these systems prone to cyberattacks and hacking attempts, risking vehicle details and safety.
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Future Innovations
With the rising popularity of road safety-related driver assistance systems, the global market is witnessing unprecedented growth. Meanwhile, collision avoidance systems are also undergoing tremendous upgrades. The global collision avoidance system market is estimated to grow at 9.1% CAGR and reach $114.5 billion by 2030.
Automotive Emergency Steering (AES) systems are expected to evolve in the coming years, becoming fully automatic and capable of controlling the vehicle without any driver input. For instance, even if the driver gets distracted while reaching for a dropped item, the system can autonomously steer the vehicle away from danger.
The increasing involvement of AI in collision avoidance systems can revolutionize road safety. In the near future, AI will monitor driver movement, posture, vehicle operations, traffic and weather conditions. It will then analyze this data to generate real-time decisions and predictions about potential outcomes.
Real-time AI control will reduce accidents related to driver inattention without involving fleet managers. These systems will also ensure driver privacy by eliminating the need for human interference or review in monitoring vehicular movements.
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Next Steps
Prevention is better than cure. Preventing accidents is also cheaper than repair and breakdown costs. Investing in a collision avoidance system and the right fleet management software can help you ensure streamlined operations and optimal returns.
If you need help selecting the right fit for your business, check out our free comparison report of top software vendors. It contains scorecards, user reviews and features to assist you in making informed software decisions.
What do you think are the top advantages of implementing a collision avoidance system? Let us know in the comments below!