Latest news with #driverassistance
Bloomberg
14 hours ago
- Automotive
- Bloomberg
China Drafts Rules for Driver Assistance Systems to Boost Safety
China is developing new mandatory national safety requirements for driver assistance systems, signaling a move toward tightening regulations as the safety of the rapidly evolving technology comes under scrutiny. The proposal was published in a notice on a public service platform under the State Administration for Market Regulation on Wednesday. The China Automotive Technology & Research Center, state-owned carmaker Dongfeng Motor Group Co. and tech giant Huawei Technologies Co. are participating in the drafting process.
Reuters
17 hours ago
- Automotive
- Reuters
Musk's Tesla seeks to guard crash data from public disclosure
June 4 (Reuters) - Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab has asked a judge to reject a demand for some of its vehicle crash data held by the U.S. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, saying that public disclosure of the information could cause competitive harm. Tesla, the electric carmaker owned by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, said in a federal court filing, opens new tab in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday that the requested information is confidential and could be used by rival companies to assess Tesla's technology. Tesla was responding to a lawsuit filed by The Washington Post last year against the NHTSA seeking records about crashes that occurred while driver-assistance systems were in use. Tesla is widely known for its so-called advanced driver-assistance systems, including Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD). Tesla has defended its technology and said that its self-driving software requires active driver supervision and does not make vehicles autonomous. Tesla and the safety agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and neither did a lawyer for The Washington Post. The highway safety agency in a separate filing also argued that the Post's demand sought information that is exempt from the federal public records laws. The Post has said that the NHTSA releases some crash report information, 'but it withholds critical details about the technologies in use and the circumstances and locations of the crashes.' Tesla in its court filing said it and the auto safety agency should be allowed to keep secret certain crash-related narrative information, including road conditions and driver behavior. Tesla also said the agency cannot be forced to share information about the hardware and software versions of the driver assistance programs that may have been in use at the time of a vehicle crash. Public release of the information would allow Tesla's competitors to assess the efficacy of each version and also allow them to calculate how many crashes are associated with different systems, Tesla said. Lawyers for the Post have argued that the version information of the Tesla software and hardware is not kept private, since Tesla drivers can access that information on their own within their vehicle. In October, NHTSA opened an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles featuring full self-driving technology after four reported collisions, including a 2023 fatal crash. Tesla in 2023 recalled more than 2 million U.S. vehicles to install safeguards in its Autopilot advanced driver-assistance system. The case is WP Co LLC v. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:24-cv-01353. For Wp Co: Charles Tobin of Ballard Spahr For NHTSA: Kartik Venguswamy of the U.S. Attorney's Office For Tesla: Taylor McConkie of Tesla Read more: US agency eases some self-driving safety rules, sending Tesla stock soaring Tesla settles wrongful death lawsuit claiming sudden acceleration in Ohio crash US probes Tesla's Full Self-Driving software in 2.4 mln cars after fatal crash Tesla blamed drivers for failures of parts it long knew were defective
Auto Express
a day ago
- Automotive
- Auto Express
Leapmotor could sacrifice Euro NCAP safety rating for a better driver experience
Ever feel like the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) in new cars are more of a hindrance than a help because of how distracting, confusing or generally infuriating they can be? We do sometimes, and Leapmotor's marketing boss would be inclined to agree, based on the thoughts he shared about ADAS in an interview with Auto Express. Advertisement - Article continues below Francesco Giacalone, Leapmotor's head of European marketing and the man responsible for customer experience, told us he would be happy for the brand to sacrifice high Euro NCAP safety ratings – which are earned partly by companies cramming in as much as driver-assistance technology as possible into new cars – for the sake of a better, less stressful driver experience. 'Getting Euro NCAP ratings will not always be inexpensive and will not always be easy to achieve,' he said. 'So at a point in time, there could be the compromise whether to not reach the [maximum] NCAP rating, but to provide the promise of our brand, which is to deliver life-easing technology at an affordable price. 'Maybe we need to sacrifice one star to deliver the right product to the customer, with the full content of useful and life-easing technology?' he added. 'That could be the right choice.' Skip advert Advertisement - Article continues below But to clarify, Giacalone isn't proposing that Leapmotor starts putting less safety or driver-assistance tech into its cars. Especially because all new cars sold in the EU must be fitted with Emergency Lane Keep Assist, Autonomous Emergency Braking and Intelligent Speed Assist, and more systems will be added to this mandatory list next year. Instead, his suggestion is simply that the driver should be able to choose which of the systems onboard they want activated by default when they turn on their car. Advertisement - Article continues below He explained: 'Of course, we will not go to the extreme of the spectrum where we launch a car that has no active safety, and the passive safety is crap. All vehicles from Leapmotor are engineered with high-strength stainless steel on the side and in the frame, so the cabin is strong, and there's lots of airbags. 'All those elements will be there. Just maybe, to achieve the five-star rating, you need some active safety which not all consumers equally appreciate,' he said. 'Then, either you make a compromise in that little last mile and probably that will cost you a star – that could be the case – but there's no compromise on the broad security of the car.' Essentially, as Giacalone put it to us, 'the message is that all the tech, hardware and software is there at the service of the customer. So, if you want, we enable it.' The marketing boss would be the first to admit some parts of Leapmotor's ADAS suite are not perfect, and still need work, which we very much agree with after driving the C10. However, unlike some other brands, Leapmotor is willing and able to update its cars extremely quickly after receiving feedback like ours. For instance, Giacalone told us, after receiving criticism about the C10's driver-assistance systems and how difficult it was to turn them off last September, the company developed a solution in just six weeks and was ready to roll it out before Christmas. Now, the car has a drop-down control centre with shortcuts for deactivating certain functions much more quickly, and more easily than before. But while Leapmotor can update its cars incredibly quickly if and when it needs to, Giacalone thinks customers might find a major update every six weeks a bit annoying. Instead, he said: 'We will try to have regular updates every four months or so, maybe once or twice a year, grouping more improvements and new features.' Now you can buy a car through our network of top dealers around the UK. Search for the latest deals… Find a car with the experts Car Deal of the Day: Super sci-fi Kia EV6 for an exceptional £260 per month Car Deal of the Day: Super sci-fi Kia EV6 for an exceptional £260 per month Our Deal of the Day for 31 May is an extremely attractive price for this extremely capable electric family car Car Deal of the Day: new Omoda 5, with all the kit you might need, for less than £200 per month Car Deal of the Day: new Omoda 5, with all the kit you might need, for less than £200 per month The Omoda 5 is one of the newest arrivals to the family SUV market, and now it's our Deal of the Day for 1 June Audi A3 Sportback 35 TFSI long term test: premium hatch is a joy to live with Audi A3 Sportback 35 TFSI long term test: premium hatch is a joy to live with First report: premium hatch joins our fleet, and its bright metallic paint has already earned it a nickname Long-term tests 1 Jun 2025
Auto Car
a day ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
Quarter of motorists unhappy with driver assistance systems
Widespread confusion regarding the capabilities and limitations of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) is developing a 'trust gap' with modern cars. That's the conclusion of a new survey from technology specialist DG Cities, which warns that in order to buck this trend, dealers and car makers need to explain the tech better to buyers. From its findings, 40% of respondents report receiving insufficient information at the point of purchase. Assistance systems such as blind-spot monitoring and lane centring were made standard on new cars through the European Union's recent General Safety Regulations 2 (GSR2) with the aim of halving road deaths. Highlighting some of the findings from the survey, DG Cities behavioural scientist Lara Suraci said: 'A quarter of motorists were not happy with their cars' ADAS features while one in 10 were unhappy with its accuracy.' ADAS are deployed in different ways by different car makers. Researchers say this is confusing buyers and warn that it is key in the trust gap developing. 'We believe this variance between car makers risks confusing customers who shop around,' said Balázs Csuvár, director of innovation at DG Cities. He added that because ADAS 'wasn't a key selling point' for car makers and because 'there's no marketing gain' to be had, 'it is not anyone's clear responsibility to promote and make ADAS acceptable and to function better'. Yousif Al-Ani, principal engineer of ADAS at Thatcham Research, agrees that inconsistency between systems and their reliability and accuracy could be compounding the problem. 'Models that appear to be relatively new may be using old technologies and cheaper cars are more likely to have older tech and lower computing power,' he said. However, he added: 'Despite these problems, I believe ADAS is getting better with each new model.' Meanwhile, some organisations are trying to improve customers' understanding of ADAS. The Motor Ombudsman, an impartial dispute resolution service, now requires the car dealers among its membership to explain the function and operation of ADAS at the point of a vehicle's handover. Managing director Bill Fennell said: 'With ADAS features becoming more complex and commonplace, and sometimes varying between makes and models, the codes now make reference to retailers providing clear information on their function and limitations during the purchase process.'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Self-Driving Tesla Suddenly Swerves Off the Road and Crashes
A video that went viral on Reddit shows a Tesla Model 3 with its so-called "Full Self-Driving" driver assistance feature turned on veering off a country road, crashing into some fencing, and flipping onto its roof. An image shared by Wally, a Tesla owner in Alabama, shows the aftermath: deployed airbags, smashed windows, and a ripped-up metal wire fence. It's unclear what actually caused the crash, as there's nothing in particular that stands out as far as road conditions. The vehicle drives over several shadows being cast on the road by nearby trees, and a truck can be seen driving in the opposite direction just before the driver assistance feature goes haywire. It's yet another baffling incident involving Tesla's controversial driver assistance software, which has already drawn plenty of scrutiny from regulators after being linked to countless crashes and dozens of deaths. It's particularly harrowing, considering the Tesla is planning to roll out a robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in less than a month's time, highlighting that the Elon Musk-led company may still be woefully unprepared and putting the public at risk. The company's misleadingly-named Full Self-Driving feature still requires drivers to be able to take over control at any time. However, that requirement still appears to fly over the heads of many of Tesla's customers. "I used FSD every chance I could get I actually watched YouTube videos to tailor my FSD settings and experience," Wally told Electrek. "I was happy it could drive me to Waffle House and I could just sit back and relax while it would drive me on my morning commute to work." "I was driving to work had Full Self-Driving on. The oncoming car passed, and the wheel started turning rapidly, driving into the ditch, and side-swiping the tree, and the car flipped over," he added. "I did not have any time to react." Fortunately, he only incurred a cut to his chin that required seven stitches. His Model 3 featured Tesla's latest Hardware 4 onboard computer, running the latest version of FSD. Despite Musk's promises of kicking off a driverless ride-hailing service in a matter of weeks, we're still likely many years from Musk's promise of having hundreds of thousands of truly self-driving Teslas on the road. In a recent podcast interview, the company's head of Autopilot and AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, admitted that its driving tech is still a "couple of years" behind the likes of Waymo. Considering how easily cars can still crash in the absence of any apparent dangers with FSD turned on, Elluswamy may have a point. More on self-driving: Terrifying Footage Shows Cybertruck on Self-Driving Mode Swerve Into Oncoming Traffic
