PPicture this scene: You are driving at 20 km per hour on a busy market street somewhere in India. It’s a vortex of chaos all around you, with cyclists, scooterists, pedestrians and street vendors all vying for precious roadside real estate. Suddenly one of them appears in front of your car. While there is a margin for you to brake enough so that the said pedestrian can move quickly, it is screeching noise as the vehicle applies maximum brakes with the alarm sounding inside the cabin.
When I said brakes, I meant the brakes of the car, not the driver. This is because the car in question has automatic braking. Or, as car makers euphemistically say, ‘Forward Collision Avoidance’. One such incident happened to me a few days ago while driving a Mercedes-Benz C300d in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The streets were packed, and as expected, I was paying extreme attention. Personally, I didn’t believe I could hit a pedestrian. But the car thought otherwise. Fortunately, the four-wheeler behind me hit the bus, not the Merc.
Welcome to the world of automatic braking, another layer to the growing automation of cars: from automatic headlights that are actually useful, to self-adjusting high beams and wipers that feel rain on the windshield. Automatic braking, however, is part of the ‘Advanced Driver Assistance Systems’ (ADAS). while i did written First on the subject, they are now becoming increasingly popular on modern vehicles available in India. Not only the Mercedes-Benz C300d, even the Hyundai Tucson I have currently has ADAS. In 2023, ADAS will likely appear in more vehicles, but for now, The lowest price car with ADAS is Honda City E: HEV Hybrid.
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Why automatic braking doesn’t work for India
ADAS features can prove helpful in certain situations, such as radar-assisted cruise control that maintains a safe distance from the vehicle in front. Or even the ‘Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS)’, which gently steers you back into your lane and is nothing less than a boon on some of India’s newest expressways. But I have a bone to pick with the automatic braking, which only works properly at low speeds inside cities. I don’t believe this works for most Indian cities. At least not now.
make no mistake; There is a use case for automatic braking. Imagine driving inside a field and a child suddenly runs across the road chasing a ball, while you weren’t paying the expected attention. In today’s day and age, where smartphones are all around us, we can all get distracted quite quickly- from bad jokes on WhatsApp to the latest trends on Twitter. While automatic braking has many advantages, it’s really hard to figure out how the car brakes when the system is activated. And in some situations—like when you’re in a convoy or inside a market area—it’s better to turn the system off than to use it. If you’re paying attention, that is.
However, it is easier said than done. To be fair to Honda, on the City E:HEV, the carmaker has provided a button to disable the ADAS features. As with most other cars, you have to go deep into the vehicle menu item to turn off the system. And to make sure it’s not that easy for you, you should do this every time you start the car. While every carmaker has a warning screen to urge drivers to pay attention, no warnings come with ADAS-equipped vehicles.
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warning label is mandatory
I honestly feel that a bigger warning message should come with cars with automatic braking systems. Despite knowing that the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class had this feature, it came as quite a shock when it was activated. Now, imagine that when you go to buy a car, the representative at the dealership tells you all about this feature, but you forget to tell your driver—the person who In fact Drives a vehicle – about such a system. What will happen then? Seriously, if someone like me, who changes cars with alarming frequency and keeps up to date with all the latest features, can forget, it’s quite possible that an average car owner or driver can forget too—even though The car manufacturer prominently advertises ADAS features.
I can’t believe that autonomous driving is any closer to becoming a reality. At least not beyond specialized use cases. But such ADAS features will increasingly come onboard cars. It’s only a matter of time before hatchbacks come equipped with advanced radar systems: yes, automatic braking user radar! And forever distracted, there is a very good use case for ADAS. But I’m just requesting that the auto industry flash a big, red warning sign on cars with these features.
@kushanmitra is an automotive journalist based in New Delhi. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)