Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are commonplace in new cars these days, helping out with everything from mundane operations like parking and turning on the wipers, quality of life improvements like adaptive cruise control and traffic jam assist and potentially life-saving interventions such as lane centering, collision mitigation and autonomous emergency braking.
But this also means there are a lot of new and confusing acronyms being thrown around, because there is nothing a car manufacturer likes more than a good acronym.
Take ADAS itself for example: as you may have gathered, its stands for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and is basically a suite of technologies designed to enhance safety and driving convenience that includes features like automatic braking, adaptive cruise control, and lane-keeping systems.
But there are many, many more. So here is a helpful guide to some of the more common acronyms currently used to describe driver assist systems to help you get your head around the often bewildering array of letters in a car's spec sheet!
Core Driver Assistance Systems
ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control)
- Automatically adjusts the vehicle's speed to maintain a safe distance from the car ahead. It often works in stop-and-go traffic, reducing driver stress.
AEB (Autonomous Emergency Braking)
- Monitors the road for obstacles or potential collisions and applies the brakes automatically if the driver fails to respond in time.
BSD (Blind Spot Detection)
- Uses sensors to monitor areas that are difficult for the driver to see and warns of vehicles in adjacent lanes.
FCW (Forward Collision Warning)
- Detects potential collisions with vehicles or objects ahead and alerts the driver to take corrective action.
LDW (Lane Departure Warning)
- Alerts the driver (via sound, vibration, or visual signals) when the vehicle crosses lane markings without signaling.
LKA (Lane Keep Assist)
- Gently steers the vehicle back into the lane if it starts to drift unintentionally. Helps prevent accidents caused by distracted or fatigued driving.
RCTA (Rear Cross-Traffic Alert)
- Warns of approaching vehicles or pedestrians when reversing, especially helpful in parking lots.
Parking Assistance
APA (Automated Parking Assist)
- Uses sensors and cameras to park the car automatically, either parallel or perpendicular, with minimal driver input.
PDC (Park Distance Control)
- Beeps and displays the distance to nearby objects while parking, helping avoid collisions.
Traffic and Speed Control
ASL (Automatic Speed Limiter)
- Prevents the car from exceeding a set speed, even if the accelerator is pressed harder.
HDC (Hill Descent Control)
- Controls the vehicle's speed on steep declines without requiring constant braking by the driver.
ISA (Intelligent Speed Assistance)
- Monitors road speed limits and either warns the driver or adjusts the car’s speed automatically.
TJA (Traffic Jam Assist)
- Manages acceleration, braking, and steering in slow-moving traffic, making stop-and-go situations less tiring.
Collision Avoidance
CMBS (Collision Mitigation Braking System)
- Works to lessen the impact of unavoidable collisions by applying the brakes automatically.
EBA (Emergency Brake Assist)
- Enhances braking power during an emergency stop to reduce stopping distance.
PCS (Pre-Collision System)
- Prepares the vehicle for a collision by tightening seatbelts, pre-charging brakes, or adjusting seat positions.
Lighting and Visibility Aids
AFS (Adaptive Front-lighting System)
- Adjusts the angle and direction of headlights based on steering and speed, improving visibility at night or around curves.
HBA (High Beam Assist)
- Automatically switches between high and low beams based on traffic conditions.
Autonomous and Semi-Autonomous Features
FSD (Full Self-Driving)
- Refers to advanced autonomous systems capable of navigating without human intervention in certain scenarios. Originally a Tesla term, it has fallen into use as a generic term for self-driving systems (even though none technically exist in the consumer market yet!).
LCC (Lane Centering Control)
- Actively keeps the vehicle centered in its lane, often paired with ACC for semi-autonomous highway driving.
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging)
- Uses lasers to measure distances and map the environment, key for self-driving systems.
RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging)
- Uses radio waves to detect objects around the car, often for ACC and AEB, as well as parking systems.
V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication)
- Allows a vehicle to share information like information from its sensors, cameras and internal systems with other vehicles to reduce accidents and improve traffic flow. This can improve road safety, optimise energy use, and make the relationship between cars seamless.
V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything)
- Allows a vehicle can share the information from its sensors, cameras and internal systems with roadside infrastructure, smart city systems and nearby pedestrians using wireless data connectivity. This can improve road safety, optimise energy use, and make the relationship between cars and other road users seamless.