IIHS Reviews ‘Self Driving’ Systems in the Industry.

[The Weatherman]

Found this on the web this morning:

“The organization also rated hands-free highway driving systems from Ford and Nissan as “poor.” General Motors’ hands-free system, Super Cruise, was rated as “marginal.” Only Lexus’s Teammate with Advanced Drive system received a rating of “acceptable.” Even that rating, though, is still one step below the Insurance Institute’s highest possible rating of good.”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/11/cars/insurance-group-rates-tesla-autopilot-safety?cid=ios_appTesla Autopilot and similar automated driving systems get ‘poor’ rating from prominent safety group

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[The Weatherman]

Wonder if this has anything to do with the failure to update us to BC 1.4?

 

[djwildstar]

The CNN reporting is ... lacking, at best. Here are links to some of the original sources:

• IIHS News: First Driving Automation Safeguard Ratings Released
• IIHS Vehicle Ratings: Partial Automation Safeguards
• Safeguards for Partial Driving Automation: Test Protocol and Rating Guidelines

Overall, Ford's BlueCruise system gets 3 "Good", 1 "Acceptable", 2 "Marginal", and 1 "Poor" rating for an overall rating of "Poor", but I have a few observations:

1. Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop-and-Go and Lane Centering Assist improves the Adaptive Cruise Control test result from "Marginal" (with BlueCruise on) to "Good" (with BlueCruise off) on the same vehicle. This seems weird to me, because I'm not aware of a difference in adaptive cruise control resume logic based on BlueCruise on versus off.
2. It looks like the "Poor" result for the safety tests can be improved by software updates. In particular, IIHS is very concerned that automation systems should not engage (and must immediately disengage) if the driver's seat belt is unfastened, if automatic emergency braking is disabled, or if lane departure protection is disabled. I'm guessing that BlueCruise will either activate or fail to immediately deactivate in some of these situations, resulting in a "Poor" rating here.
3. The safety rating is weighted considerably more than the other measures. If Ford improves the safety features result to "Good" (and there's no reason why they can't), then the overall rating rises to "Acceptable".

 

[Dinozero]

The CNN reporting is ... lacking, at best. Here are links to some of the original sources:

• IIHS News: First Driving Automation Safeguard Ratings Released
• IIHS Vehicle Ratings: Partial Automation Safeguards
• Safeguards for Partial Driving Automation: Test Protocol and Rating Guidelines

Overall, Ford's BlueCruise system gets 3 "Good", 1 "Acceptable", 2 "Marginal", and 1 "Poor" rating for an overall rating of "Poor", but I have a few observations:

1. Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop-and-Go and Lane Centering Assist improves the Adaptive Cruise Control test result from "Marginal" (with BlueCruise on) to "Good" (with BlueCruise off) on the same vehicle. This seems weird to me, because I'm not aware of a difference in adaptive cruise control resume logic based on BlueCruise on versus off.
2. It looks like the "Poor" result for the safety tests can be improved by software updates. In particular, IIHS is very concerned that automation systems should not engage (and must immediately disengage) if the driver's seat belt is unfastened, if automatic emergency braking is disabled, or if lane departure protection is disabled. I'm guessing that BlueCruise will either activate or fail to immediately deactivate in some of these situations, resulting in a "Poor" rating here.
3. The safety rating is weighted considerably more than the other measures. If Ford improves the safety features result to "Good" (and there's no reason why they can't), then the overall rating rises to "Acceptable".

Fantastic break down and analysis.

 

[Zprime29]

I seem to recall that Out Of Spec complained about the safety features as well when they did their automated road test. In particular, didn't turn on hazards, didn't come to a complete stop, didn't try to "wake" up the driver with pulsing brakes or horn, and didn't alert when it disengages. Those all seem like things they'd be able to implement and would be reasonable. The lack of notification when it disengages is really annoying, I did notice that while road tripping.

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