VIN Basics Blog

* This article was a collaboration with our partners Joseph Creese and Howard Abbey at SBD Automotive.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) technology is confusing for consumers and businesses alike. While there are core ADAS features that can function similarly across each OEM, such as forward collision warning, lane keeping, or blind spot monitoring, each OEM offers their unique spin on the different technologies and markets them differently with their own branded names.

While it’s no surprise that ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) has taken the auto industry by storm, there are still many uncertainties when it comes to how your business will be impacted. There are several benefits to these new features, including increased safety and convenience for drivers, and concerns, such as costly repairs, making ADAS a very complex topic that even those selling, insuring, and repairing these features will require clarification on.

In this article, we’ve covered how some auto industry segments have been impacted by ADAS. Read on to learn more.

In the last ten years vehicle technology, specifically in regard to safety features, has become increasingly complex. These advanced vehicle safety features are often bucketed under the category “Advanced Driver Assistance Systems,” more commonly known as ADAS. While the key motivator of this growth has been driver safety, ADAS will play a larger role for those on the business side of automotive in everything from data collection to lending to titling over the next few years. Some of the most popular ADAS features are: braking assist, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, blind spot detection, and rear cross traffic alert.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, aka ADAS, are a hot topic in the auto industry, especially as these safety features become more widespread across manufacturers and their model lineups. Whether your business is in the retail, insurance, auto repair/service, or logistics space, you’ve likely been impacted by ADAS in some way, shape, or form.

We live in an age where everything is on demand. Binge watching your favorite TV shows when and where you want, ordering almost any product online and having it delivered on your doorstep within 48 hours, and arranging for transportation to arrive within 5-10 mins from the palm of your hand are all daily occurrences around the country. More and more on-demand business models are created to support this convenient and instantaneous lifestyle our society has become accustomed to.

This post has been updated since its original publish date in February 2017

Imagine a future where, with the push of a button, your customers could summon a mechanic right to their own driveway or even forecast an impending vehicle failure with a tiny implant into their engines brain. In our rapidly evolving, tech-transformative universe these possibilities are not only on the horizon of the automotive world, they have arrived on the doorstep.

Automakers have made great strides in increasing vehicle safety. Today's car shoppers will find many different advanced safety technologies, such as lane assistance technology, that are designed to reduce accidents and protect drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.

Since automakers each have their unique branding for these safety features, it’s easy for vehicle shoppers, and even dealers and service providers, to get confused when comparing vehicle models across multiple brands. For example, while some safety features will simply alert drivers when required to adjust, others will actively take measures to mitigate collision with semi-autonomous functionality.

“Fixed ops departments account for the bulk of dealership’s profits.” Sound familiar? How about, “A healthy and profitable fixed ops department means a healthy dealership.” You’ve heard it all before. Yet, growing your service clientele, let alone retaining your existing clientele, is easier said than done.

Vehicle technology is not only becoming more widespread and more affordable each model year, but increasingly more complex. And with that, it can be difficult for vehicle shoppers --and even vehicle marketers-- to distinguish between the common technologies on offer. This could be attributed to the marketing names given by the OEMs or their nuances in functionality.

The NHTSA has been providing valuable crash testing ratings since 1978 that are based on front-impact crashes, side-impact crashes, and rollover resistance (added in 2011). In recent news, however, there could be some added categories to these crash test ratings.