Road freight accidents frequently occur, and it is urgent to enter the ADAS standard era

In China, the one-time loss of a serious truck accident can be as high as hundreds of thousands of yuan. The losses involved include vehicle damage loss, personnel compensation loss, cargo compensation loss, etc., not only that, an average truck accident will cause 6~7 Days of suspension of transportation will bring about an average income loss of about 35,000 yuan/time. How to avoid such accidents is an urgent problem in the freight field.

At this stage, increasing the loading rate of ADAS in the field of commercial vehicles is a more effective means, because many of these accidents are caused by the driver’s inaction. If the relevant ADAS function can be used to affect the driver Monitoring, reminding and even actively intervening in the running state of vehicles without standard operation will undoubtedly greatly improve the driving safety of freight vehicles.

The road freight safety situation is grim, standard ADAS is imminent

As the most important means of goods circulation, road freight has ushered in rapid expansion in recent years with the rapid development of digital e-commerce. According to statistics from the “White Paper on Smart Safety in China’s Road Freight Industry” (hereinafter referred to as the “White Paper”) jointly released by PricewaterhouseCoopers, G7 and China Communications News, as of 2019, China’s road freight volume exceeded 41.6 billion tons, and the volume of cargo turnover was close to 8 trillion ton-kilometers, with more than 13 million trucks, making it the world’s largest market.

However, despite the rapid expansion of the domestic road freight market, the number of safety accidents has also remained high. According to the G7 big data platform, as of 2019, the number of road freight accidents per million kilometers in China was 3.7. According to the statistics of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the number of road freight accidents per million kilometers in the United States dropped to 0.1 in 2014. about.

In-depth analysis shows that there are two main reasons for the frequent occurrence of domestic road freight accidents: First, the driver’s irregular driving behavior, such as fatigue driving, aggressive driving, etc. According to statistics from the G7 big data platform, the proportion of accidents caused by drivers in road freight accidents is 37%, and 80% of accidents are caused by drivers’ aggressive driving behaviors, such as speeding at intersections, too fast, and too fast turns. , Overtaking, failing to maintain a safe distance, etc.; 15% of accidents are caused by the driver’s fatigue driving; 4% of accidents are caused by the driver’s distraction, such as making calls, looking at the mobile phone, smoking, etc.; 1% of the accidents are caused by the driver’s danger Triggered by driving behavior, such as retrograde, rolling, etc.

Second, because of the large size of the vehicles carrying goods and many blind spots, accidents caused by this accounted for 35% of road freight accidents. Among them, 42% of accidents are caused by the right blind zone, 32% of the accidents are caused by the reverse blind zone, and 9% of the accidents are caused by the left blind zone.

This means that if the driver’s irregular behavior can be supervised and reminded in real time, and even intervened in time, and the blind spot problem can be solved with certain technical means, most accidents can be avoided.

Taking DMS as an example, the system can monitor the driver’s head position, facial expression, eye movement/blink frequency, etc. through camera-based vision technology, and determine whether the driver is fatigued or distracted driving, etc., so as to promptly report The driver issues a hazard warning to help the driver refocus his attention on driving, and even actively controls the movement of the vehicle through cooperation with other systems to prevent accidents.

Second, because of the large size of the vehicles carrying goods and many blind spots, accidents caused by this accounted for 35% of road freight accidents. Among them, 42% of accidents are caused by the right blind zone, 32% of the accidents are caused by the reverse blind zone, and 9% of the accidents are caused by the left blind zone.

This means that if the driver’s irregular behavior can be supervised and reminded in real time, and even intervened in time, and the blind spot problem can be solved with certain technical means, most accidents can be avoided.

Taking DMS as an example, the system can monitor the driver’s head position, facial expression, eye movement/blink frequency, etc. through camera-based vision technology, and determine whether the driver is fatigued or distracted driving, etc., so as to promptly report The driver issues a hazard warning to help the driver refocus his attention on driving, and even actively controls the movement of the vehicle through cooperation with other systems to prevent accidents.

 

Some ADAS functions have been equipped as standard

In fact, with the rapid development of ADAS technology, the current policy level has provided support for the popular application of related ADAS functions on freight vehicles. For example, under the compulsory requirements of relevant laws and regulations, the functions of LDW, FCW, AEB, LKA, etc. have been gradually popularized for “two dangers and one customer”, and it is gradually changing from after-installation to mandatory pre-installation. The functions are simply providing early warning applications from the early stage. Gradually deepen the control and implementation level.

The “Safety Technical Requirements for Operating Trucks” (JT/T1178.1-2018) issued in 2018 stipulates that from May 1, 2020, trucks and tractors with a total mass of ≥ 12000kg should be equipped with FCW and LDW. From May 1, 2021, trucks and tractors with a total mass greater than or equal to 12,000 kg and a maximum speed greater than 90km/h need to be equipped with AEB.

On March 15, 2019, the “Performance Requirements and Test Procedures for Automatic Emergency Braking System of Commercial Vehicles” (JT/T1242-2019) was released, proposing that from April 1 of that year, all newly produced commercial vehicles over 9 meters must be Install LDW and AEB that meet the requirements.

Currently, more ADAS functions are continuously being used in the commercial vehicle field, such as DMS. It is reported that in Sichuan Province, as of the end of March this year, 31,300 vehicle-mounted active safety and intelligent prevention and control equipment for “two passengers and one danger” key operating vehicles in 21 cities (prefectures) in the province have all realized automatic identification and automatic identification of unsafe driver behaviors. Real-time reminder.

In addition, Jiangsu Province has also issued relevant documents before, requiring the “two passengers and one danger” vehicle to install an active safety and intelligent prevention and control system terminal, so that the vehicle has a driving recorder, satellite positioning, on-board video monitoring, advanced driving assistance, driver status monitoring, etc. Function, and communicate with other on-board electronic equipment, and finally access the government safety supervision platform.

Other countries are also pushing for the rapid implementation of DMS-related safety standards. For example, Euro-NCAP has decided to use DMS as an essential safety function indicator in the five-star rating from 2020. In 2022, the European Union requires that all cars sold in Europe need to install a more advanced safety system, including smart speed limiters and driver monitors to detect whether the driver is fatigued or inattentive.

CMS is another rapidly evolving technology. The system mainly uses an external camera to replace the traditional side mirrors or rearview mirrors of the car to monitor the surrounding road conditions of the car and display the acquired environmental information on the display in the cockpit. It is reported that some suppliers have obtained FMCSA (Federal Motor Transportation Safety Administration) five-year exemption, allowing them to install similar systems on trucks instead of traditional rearview mirrors to improve truck drivers’ perception of the environment Level.

With the issuance of this series of policies and the rapid development of related technologies, the penetration rate of ADAS in the freight field has increased rapidly in recent years, and it is expected that in the next few years, with the continuous implementation of relevant regulations and standards, further Growth, reaching a market scale of tens of billions.

Such a large market has attracted a large number of players in recent years, such as Freetech, Zhijia Technology, Qingzhi Technology, Jimu Intelligent, MINIEYE, etc., are among the best. Among them, Freetech uses ADAS sensors, controllers, and ADAS algorithms running on the controllers to process some perception data obtained from the perception system, which can provide the majority of car companies with ACC, AEB, LKA, PA, TJA A series of mainstream ADAS functions, and related products have been mass-produced on passenger vehicles and commercial vehicle models of leading domestic auto companies such as Geely.

Recently, the commercial vehicle pneumatic system company Ruili Group and the domestic automobile and equipment manufacturing industry leader Weichai Group have also chosen to invest in related companies. The entry into the commercial vehicle ADAS field shows the urgent demand for ADAS products by commercial vehicle companies. .

However, despite the large number of participants in the domestic commercial vehicle ADAS market, the current accumulation of local companies is mostly in the field of perception and early warning, and there is still a certain gap between the execution level and the foreign component giants. Therefore, as the ADAS function gradually evolves from simply providing an early warning function to a braking function, some companies with weak executive technology must find ways to strengthen their capabilities. For example, the cooperation between Ruili Group and Zhijia Technology, the former’s advantage lies in vehicles Control system, the latter is focused on visual perception. This joint just complements the shortcomings of Zhijiao Technology at the implementation level, forming a closed loop of ADAS solutions, or it can only be gradually eliminated by the market in the process of continuous iteration of technology.