Volkswagen Arteon now updated with Emergency assist 2.0

Autonomous driving cars or self-driving cars are capable of sensing the surrounding and navigating through it without driver or other human intervention. It is a blend of sensors, radar, lasers, GPS and cameras working together in evaluating the environment suitable for driving. Autonomous driving increases comfort and safety on road too. Many leading automobile manufacturers have invented their own technologies in the world of ‘autonomous driving’ with different stages of human and machine compatibility.

Volkswagen Arteon is equipped with ‘Emergency assist 2.0’, a technology that would prevent serious accidents in many circumstances. The system can sense if the driver has become incapacitated, and based on that judgement, the emergency assist takes over. Within the limitations of the system, the vehicle is automatically steered nearside and comes to a halt.

The second generation of the emergency assist the system takes precautionary actions and merges the ACC (Adaptive cruise control), Side assist, Lane assist and Park assist into one system. These systems when worked together are able to bring the vehicle to a complete halt in the nearside lane.

The system detects if the driver has not given any input to the throttle, brake nor steering wheel for a defined period of time and judges the driver to be too incapacitated to drive. These combined sensors then take a countermeasure such as, warning the driver and ‘shaking him out of his slumber’ by acoustics, visual and physical means such as a brake jolt. If, however, the driver fails to respond to these attempts, the emergency assist will initiate the emergency stopping process for the car.

Other leading manufacturers such as the BMW and the Mercedes have also developed cars equipped with ‘autonomous driving’. The BMW already has a five-level autonomous driving technology which does not require any input from human beings. The car maker aims to bring out fully autonomous driving systems by the year 2021. The Mercedes is also expected to equip the 2018 S-class with an updated ‘Mercedes-Benz intelligent drive’ for better safety and driver support.