The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) has announced the launch of the ADAS (Advanced Driving Assistance System) program to increase road safety measures and reduce traffic accidents. Although there are already measures to avoid accidents such as signs, speed limitations, radars, traffic agents, driving rules and many other elements; Fatal victims of road accidents have increased compared to last year.
One of the objectives of the DGT is reduce deaths to zero by 2050. To do this, the ADAS introduces a series of driving aids like the following:
ADAS driving aids:
- Lane maintenance
- Reverse obstacle detection
- Advanced emergency braking
- emergency stop sign
- Intelligent speed assistance (respecting speed limits)
- Fatigue detector
- Pre-installation of breathalyzer
- Black box to record what happens
Although some of this aid is already incorporated compulsorily in new homologation car models, vehicles that do not have them will have to integrate them. One of them, similar to the black box of an airplane, is the EDR (Event Data Recorder)which works as a Event Data Recorder in the event that the vehicle suffers an accident.
How does EDR work?
The EDR is a small device, like a mobile phone, which contains a microchip that houses different data about the driving of the vehicle in which it is located. For this device to work correctly, it must place under the driver’s seatand among its functions are the car telemetry recordingto record acceleration, speed reached, steering angle, G force, engine revolutions per minute or braking.
As published by the insurance company Mapfre on its website, this device records the circumstances in which the accident occurred in the event that any element of the restraint system is activated. Your system starts working during five seconds prior to an impact to detect the possible reasons for the accident. Among drivers, there is fear that their privacy will be violated, due to the data that both the DGT and the insurers will receive, and they may be sanctioned.
The data recorded depends on each manufacturer, as the standardization of the data to be collected is not regulated. Once the data of the airbag unit or ABS/ESP unit is stored, it is locked. The data can be read later using specific software, explains Mapfre on its website. In the event of an accident, the device will allow the authorities access everything that happened before and during the eventjust like the black boxes on airplanes.
