Does anyone remember just a few years ago (a magical time before people bumped elbows to greet each other), when the vehicle industry marketing machine was certain that Autonomous Vehicles and Driverless cars were the future of the transport system? Well since then, the industry has been forced to take a reality check and realise that this kind of technology is still a long way off, as only some of the necessary technologies are ready to go. It looks like, in the mid to near future at least, that only semi-autonomous vehicles at best, and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) at the least will be widely available.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Semi-Autonomous vehicles have great potential for improving road safety, especially for cyclists and pedestrians, but as always there is a need to be cautious. In this article from ECF’s Safer Cycling Advocate Program, we analyse what is coming up in vehicle technology, and how authorities can improve cycling road safety by monitoring and complementing these new technologies. Look at the SCAP Best Practice Guide for more.

The latest report of the European Transport Safety Council states that 83% of cyclist deaths recorded in the European Union are a consequence of an impact with a motor vehicle. A dramatic figure that puts motorised vehicles at the core of road safety concerns. Whilst the best way of reducing the huge social, environmental, and safety impact of motor vehicles is to remove them from our streets, particularly where people work, play and live, through ambitious policies to encourage modal shift, until this goal is reached there is still space for improvement, using new technologies to aid in avoiding crashes and reducing their severity.

All of the ADAS and vehicle technologies are regulated by EU law, through the General Safety Regulations. Reviewed and updated in 2019, this regulation mandates all new vehicles that are to be placed in the EU single market, to provide a whole raft of safety measures and features on the vehicle. ECF has successfully lobbied for years to achieve that all new vehicles will be equipped with new safety technologies. A prominent example with revolutionary potential to reduce speed and stop crashes from happening is Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA); which according to a European Commission impact assessment could eventually reduce overall collisions by 30% and deaths by 20%. Mandating ISA means all new motor vehicles sold from 2022 must have technology installed which, if the driver exceeds the speed limit for a given road, interacts with driver through the accelerator pedal of the car. The system can be overridden in case of critical situations that arise necessitating speed to be increased. The vehicle will read speed limit signs and/or receive live GPS data, in order to know the speed limit of the road that it is currently using.

Unfortunately, after enormous pressure from the car industry, legislators deemed that the system will be able to be switched off, however the default will be for the system to be “on” every time the engine is started. Other measures, such as Autonomous Emergency Braking, better passive safety/front end design of cars, drowsiness and distraction monitoring, as well as measures for heavy goods vehicles, construction lorries, and buses (together responsible for around 22% of cycling fatalities), such as mandatory Blind Spot Detection systems and Direct Vision standards, are also included in the legislation. 

Threats and benefits for cycling

All measures, as we move towards the inevitable autonomous future, will not be as positive for the needs and rights of cyclists on the road as these. As AVs move towards full autonomy, vehicles are going to have to know not just where a cyclist is, but also predict a cyclist's movements. They are going to have to make tough decisions about how close to cyclists to drive, when to overtake, and also about who's safety to prioritise (i.e. the motor vehicle occupant’s safety or the safety of other road users. This includes tricky ethical questions and policymakers need to be vigilant that as innovations are applied, that the needs of those not driving the vehicle are considered. Before full autonomy, semi-autonomous vehicles will need the driver and vehicle to cooperate; it will require the driver to be doing nothing for a long time and then immediately be able to take over control of the vehicle when there is a ‘situation’ that the vehicle is not sure of. It is in this semi-autonomous realm that these vehicles could be hugely dangerous.

It should be remembered that it is not possible to make driving completely safe for other road users.

The best way to achieve better road safety in most circumstances (as well as to achieve many other societal objectives) is simply for there not to be a motor vehicle, (carrying one 80 kilo human, often weighing several tonnes and powered with a several hundred horsepower engine) on the road to start with. Indeed as AV technology improves we need to be wary that ease of use does not become one more reason to ‘drive’ a car, as this means we will miss out on an opportunity for healthier, greener and less congested streets through a modal shift to active transport; we could have a reverse modal shift towards AVs. Indeed perhaps the goal should be to use the advance of AV technology to allow only shared and public autonomous vehicles into cities. Could we use technological advancement to finally use motor vehicles for what they were originally designed to do? Opening up easy access longer distance journeys.

In brief, the arrival of some autonomous vehicle technologies is an excellent opportunity to make motor vehicles as safe as possible for cyclists. The European Union has already announced some technologies with enormous potential to improve the cycling experience and bring more people onto bicycles throughout the EU. However, we need to be wary that as each technology is implemented it is done in as safe and as fair a way as possible, taking into account the needs of everyone on the road.

To embrace these measures and others, as well as explore in more detail some of the issues discussed, take a look at the SCAP Best Practice Guide, the work of ECF, ECF's discussion paper or ECF’s member in your country.