No matter how you look at it, self-driving cars are here. Sure, they can’t drive themselves in all scenarios, but cars nowadays have no problem moving at a set speed on a highway, keeping their distance from other vehicles, and even changing lanes in some cases.
The technology that enables this is generically called Highway Assist. It combines a wealth of other sub-systems to ease the pressure on the driver who would otherwise have to keep the same posture behind the wheel for long periods of time. The driver’s attention, however, is always required.
There are countless cars now offering some type of Highway Assist, but their capabilities in these respect are seldom tested, because there are basically no tests devised for them. Except, perhaps, for that of Euro NCAP.
The European safety watchdog has an assessment program for exactly this: it comprises a dedicated test, an assessment protocol, and a grading system to rate cars after a closer look at the Highway Assist system that powers them. And that’s exactly what Euro NCAP did this week.
Ten cars were subjected to the test, in an attempt to determine their Highway Assist competence and safety backup. Among them, of course, was the champion of all things automated, the Tesla Model 3.
Euro NCAP found during the test that the Autopilot is an actual wizard when it comes to the Vehicle Assistance and Safety Backup ratings. That’s obvious, this is exactly what the system has been designed for, and it had no problems snatching a top rating in both categories.
But when it comes to keeping the driver engaged and informed – and this is a problem widely discussed in the industry -things are not so shiny. What’s even more interesting is the fact that Euro NCAP describes the Autopilot as being “more authoritarian than cooperative.” For the record, the version tested was the Software 2020.36.10 Hardware 3.0 with Full Self-Driving Capability.
“Grading- wise, the car is badly let down by its performance in Driver Engagement and ends up ranked ‘Moderate’. On the upside, Tesla offers over-the-air updates and can rapidly introduce performance improvements, as they have shown to be doing in recent years,” Euro NCAP says.
So, the Model 3 got a Moderate rating overall because of its bad performance in Driver Engagement. That places it on the same level with cars like Volkswagen Passat, the Nissan Juke and the Volvo V60, but below what the Mercedes-Benz GLE, the BMW 3 Series and the Audi Q8 have to offer in this respect - these were rated Very Good.
You can have a closer look at how the Model 3 performed during the comprehensive testing in the PDF attached below.
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
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