Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) technologies are generally divided into two categories: those for safety and those for convenience. The technologies for safety utilize various sensors and control mechanisms to detect the danger unnoticed by the driver to reduce, if not eliminate, the likelihood of a collision.
Some representative ADAS technologies for safety include FCA (Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist), which applies automatic brakes when a forward collision with pedestrians/cyclists/other cars appears likely; LKA (Lane Keeping Assist), which steers the vehicle to avoid lane drifting; and BCA (Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist), which detects other cars approaching from the rear-side and warns the driver and applies the brakes as needed.
These technologies have proven to significantly improve driving safety. FCA, in particular, was discovered by the U.S.-based IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) to reduce the likelihood of car accidents by 50%.
The 3rd-generation Genesis G80, of course, comes with these ADAS technologies in their latest evolutions. Its FCA can discern from a larger radius than ever, and avoidance steering, which tries to actively avoid on-road obstacles as necessary, was newly added to the automatic braking function.
The G80 comes with a total of 22 ADAS sensors (including radars) to discern the surroundings with real-time precision. The integrated control mechanism (which is solely responsible for analyzing the data culled from the sensors) and the forward-side radar were newly installed, drastically improving the vehicle’s range and precision of detection.
Based on the data gathered from these sensors, the G80 executes a wide range of ADAS safety features: FCA w/ ESA, FCA-LS, FCA-JC, FCA-LO, FCA-JT, FCA-Car, and BCA. Below we review these safety features, one by one, in greater detail.
The kinds of forward collisions are very diverse, but certainly one of the most common causes is a sudden reduction of speed from the car ahead. Another cause is abrupt braking or speed reduction from a cyclist on the edge of the lane. Yet another is a jaywalking pedestrian who might suddenly enter into the car’s path. Whenever these obstacles occur, the driver’s natural response is to steer to the (hopefully) empty side lane, but a collision may occur if the driver does not steer quickly or strongly enough.
FCA w/ ESA adds strength to such emergency steering by the driver while avoiding a forward collision with other cars, pedestrians, or cyclists. Whereas the existing FCA only managed to reduce speed in the event of a likely collision, FCA w/ ESA acts more proactively by assisting the steering.
Another common source of accidents is a failure to detect another car coming from the blind spot. Suppose that you are driving in the third lane and wish to enter the second lane. As you do so, however, you find another car from the first lane trying to enter the second lane at the same time. These simultaneous entries are particularly dangerous because both cars are emerging from each other’s blind spot; in other words, the danger for an accident is still present even when both drivers have been diligent in checking the surroundings before changing the lane.
FCA-LS on the G80 works to prevent such accidents by intervening with emergency steering assist. When a collision in the lane-change side appears likely, FCA-LS takes over and steers the vehicle to the car’s original position. To get a comprehensive sense of the car’s surroundings that is necessary to make this judgment, it uses the data from the forward-facing camera, forward-facing radar, and forward-side radar in addition to the rear-side radar.
This automatic steering intervention does not occur if there are other cars, pedestrians, or cyclists in the vicinity that can cause secondary accidents. In this event, FCA-LS just displays a warning, stopping short of making active interventions.
Lane-change accidents may also occur when the vehicle ahead on the lane-change side suddenly reduces its speed. Suppose you are trying to change lanes; you would first check if your desired lane is empty, but even when it is not, the lane change is possible if the car ahead there is running at a speed comparable to or faster than your own speed. But what if, as you enter the lane, that car abruptly reduces its speed? A collision is unfortunately likely.
FCA-LS prepares for this type of collision as well, using the same operating principle of emergency steering intervention. As long as there is no danger of secondary accidents in the vicinity, the system will intervene to help the driver avoid the collision with the car on the lane-change side.
Accidents at junctions do not only occur while turning; they can also occur when the driver fails to notice a car approaching from sideways while he or she is going straight. Of course, meticulously checking the sideways before crossing the junction is the mindset expected of drivers, but there are countless variables that can distract the drivers from full attention. In that event, FCA-JC on the G80 senses the sideways-approaching vehicles and displays a warning and/or even applies emergency brakes as needed. This feature was not offered in previous models of FCA, and it is expected to drastically reduce the likelihood of accidents at junctions.
The most serious accidents often occur from a collision with a car that has crossed the centerline; an extremely fast response is needed to deal with the fast-shrinking distance between the two cars that likely leads to a catastrophic collision. These centerline-crossing accidents are dangerous enough in normal driving situations, but that danger is amplified when lane changes get involved. Suppose that you are driving in the second lane and wish to go to the first lane. As you enter the first lane, though, you notice that a car that has crossed the centerline is fast approaching you. No matter how experienced you are as a driver, the situation is incredibly dangerous.
The G80’s FCA-LO helps the driver avoid this potentially catastrophic collision, again with emergency steering intervention. The function, which only becomes active in roads with two lanes or more, senses during a lane change an approaching car that has crossed the centerline. It then overrides the driver’s lane change and steers the car back to its original lane, again, as long as there is no danger of secondary accidents. If there is such a danger present in the surroundings, the system will only produce a warning.
But by far the most common source of accidents at junctions is a collision with an oncoming vehicle while turning left. Even when the driver adheres to the turn signal or follows the protocol for a proper unprotected left turn, an oncoming car in violation of its traffic signals can still pose a danger of collision. If the driver detects this oncoming car in time, accidents can be avoided, but the failure to do so may result in a similarly catastrophic accident. FCA-JT on the G80 is useful in this regard, as it automatically applies brakes when it detects an oncoming car while turning left at a junction.
While FCA-JT and FCA-JC (reviewed above) are both used in junctions, they use a different set of sensors to achieve their respective functions. FCA-JT uses only the forward-facing camera and radar to make sense of the forward situation in a junction, whereas FCA-JC uses two forward-side radars in addition to the forward-facing camera and radar to make sense of the sides as well.
Normally, drivers are recommended to maintain an appreciable following distance while driving at high speeds. But if the car ahead rapidly brakes or drastically reduces its speed, even the recommended following distance may not be enough to avoid a collision. Usually, such a collision is to be avoided by evading to other lanes, but sometimes the other lanes are packed and do not admit an evasive lane change.
The G80’s FCA-Car is designed to be useful under such a scenario. When the car ahead abruptly brakes and evasive lane change is sensed as impossible, it applies brakes at a faster tempo (relative to the previous versions of FCA-Car) to dramatically reduce the likelihood of a forward collision. This feature takes advantage of the newly added forward-side radar that is used to detect the cars on the sides.
The previous versions of FCA-Car had the same operating principle (i.e. braking to avoid the collision with the decelerating car ahead), but it judged the timing for braking by considering the point at which the driver can still avoid the collision by steering manually. While this resulted in a meaningful reduction of accidents, the new FCA-Car’s faster-timed brakes is expected to not reduce but prevent accidents altogether.
When leaving a roadside parking lot from the car’s parallel-parked position, most drivers check the surroundings to make sure that the entry into the roadway is safe. Particularly dangerous is a car approaching from the backside, so the drivers often pay the most attention to the side mirrors and, if applicable, the car’s blind-spot warning features. Despite these precautionary measures, the danger of an accident is of course still present. Colliding with a fast-approaching car from the backside is the nightmare of all drivers who leave the roadside lot.
BCA comes to the rescue here—when the car attempts to enter the road by leaving its parallel-parked position, it uses the two rear-side sensors to sense a car approaching from the backside and applies the brakes as needed. The range of detection is wide enough to encompass not just the lane of entry but also the one next to that lane, such that even cars approaching after a lane change can be properly detected.
As explained in the introduction, BCA was designed initially as a safety feature that detects other cars approaching from the rear-side—during a lane change. The G80’s BCA is its evolved form that expands its function to include the above parking exit scenario.
Automobile safety features of the past were limited and often passive in nature; even FCA, part of the “advanced” driver assistance system, only managed to assist the driver in braking the vehicle for collision avoidance. But now, it has evolved to the point that it can not only assist with brakes but also with steering, more actively securing the driver’s safety than ever.
The 3rd-gen Genesis G80’s ADAS safety features are the culmination of such cutting-edge evolutions in ADAS technology. They are also a reflection of the Hyundai Motor Group’s commitment to making passenger safety a philosphical priority. The group’s R&D efforts for on-road safety are expected to continue; it is the fruits of such tireless efforts that are now visible in the group’s diverse lineup of car models.
*the short film and the motion graphics included in the article were created by HMG Journal to assist reader comprehension, and they may thus slightly differ from the function’s actual working order.