Award for eSafety technology

15 January 2011

Europe’s largest automotive association, ADAC (German Automobile Association), has presented one of its coveted ‘Yellow Angel’ awards to Daimler AG.

A panel of highly distinguished experts granted the award, in the Innovation & Environment category, to Mercedes-Benz for its Active Blind Spot Assist and Active Lane Keeping Assist systems. 

The Yellow Angel award in this category is the most important prize in the German automotive industry that honours innovation, road safety and environmental protection

The Active Blind Spot Assist system alerts the driver in the exterior mirror’s blind spot, if a change of lane would entail a risk of collision due to the presence of a vehicle in an adjacent lane. If the driver ignores the warnings and starts to draw dangerously close to the vehicle in the neighbouring lane, the brakes are automatically applied to correct the vehicle’s course.

The Active Lane Keeping Assist kicks into action if the vehicle inadvertently drifts over a solid line to the right or left of a lane. If this occurs, the system uses the ESP (Electronic Stability Program) to gently apply the brakes to the wheels on the far side and thereby bring the vehicle back on course.

 eSafety is important to fleets

During 2010 many Driving for Better Business companies took part in an international research programme that showed :

• Fleet managers regard safety as one of the most important criteria when choosing fleet vehicles.
• Fleet managers recognise the potential of eSafety technologies to reduce accidents in their fleets.
• Fleet policies place safety behind fuel consumption, price and colour on the list of priorities.
• Fitment of eSafety systems across fleets is low.
• Fleet managers find eSafety technologies to be unavailable on their chosen models or too expensive.

The research report and other information on eSafety is available here.