There has been a significant increase in new vehicles registered with electronic assistants on board, according to Bosch analysis of European vehicle registration statistics out today. Bosch examined data from IHS Markit alongside internal data and found that parking and lane assist systems, as well as emergency braking systems are growing in popularity.
The analysis found that 55 percent of new passenger cars registered in Great Britain in 2016 were equipped with some kind of parking assistance system – ranging from parking sensors to automated parking technology.
31 per cent of all new vehicles came with automatic emergency braking systems that help drivers to avoid accidents by warning them or bringing the car to a safe stop in an emergency. This is an increase of 48% per cent since 2015. For a third (32 per cent) of these vehicles, Automated Emergency Braking is part of the car’s standard fittings.
Lane assistant technologies saw the largest growth: compared with the previous year, there was a 71 percent increase of these on-board new cars in 2016.
Driver assistance systems help drivers in confusing or critical traffic situations, and are an important step on the way to the accident-free and stress-free mobility of the future. According to automotive research centre Thatcham, if autonomous emergency breaking was fitted as standard to all new models sold in the UK it would prevent 1,100 road deaths – and 122,860 casualties overall – over the next decade.
Commenting on the analysis, Arun Srinivasan, Executive Vice President of Bosch said:
“Driver assistance systems such as Automated Emergency Braking, Automated Parking and Lane Assist are incredibly effective in helping drivers in challenging or critical traffic situations, and have been shown to reduce accidents and injury. As Chairman of RoadSafe* I can see the positive impact these systems have on reducing fatalities on our roads”.
“As the pioneer of ESP®, safety has always been the primary focus of Bosch’s development work. Our goal is to achieve accident-free and stress-free mobility, which is why we are continuing to focus on further researching and developing driver assistance systems.
“It is heartening to see that, since we started looking at these figures in 2013, there has been a steady increase adopting in these technologies, and we are confident this trend will continue in the interest of increasing safety on our roads. Soon it will be just as common to see cars with driver assistance systems installed as it will be with adaptive cruise control and ESP®*”.
Bosch analysis based on 2016 statistics for newly registered cars
In 2016, 2.69 million new cars were registered in the UK. Based on new vehicle registration statistics collected by the SMMT for the year 2016 as well as data (data status 22.03.2017) supplied by business intelligence firm IHS Markit, Bosch analysed the passenger segments to see how – whether as standard or optional equipment – and which driver assistance systems are currently on offer. Bosch has been investigating the development of installation rates for driver assistance systems since 2013.
* RoadSafe is a charitable partnership, which brings together private sector with government and road safety professionals.
* ESP® won the Premier Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for its huge contribution to road safety. The European Union estimates that 188,500 crashes involving injury have been avoided and more than 6,100 lives saved since ESC was introduced in 1995.
