London, UK — ABI Research projects the global advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) market will be valued at nearly $10 billion in 2011, reaching $130 billion in 2016. ADAS features include adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, and blind-spot detection.
ADAS features, which have been expensive add-ons for luxury vehicles over the past 10 years, will be migrating to higher volume model year 2012 vehicles such as the Ford Focus and Mercedes Benz C-Class, said ABI Research.
The ABI report indicates that there are two key reasons for the accelerated growth in ADAS installations over the next five years — improved sensor designs together with lower cost and higher performance manufacturing, as well as additional features.
“The first is the technical improvement in sensor design and manufacturing that is delivering lower cost and better performance,” stated David Alexander, ABI’s principal analyst. “The second is the development of additional features over the core function for many systems that will make them more attractive to new car buyers.”
The report finds that “sensor fusion is allowing better functionality and performance from individual features, and the improvements are expected to continue while prices decline as volumes grow and development costs are amortized.”
As an example, an early lane departure warning feature alerted the driver if the vehicle strayed from the marked lane when the turn signal was not activated, said ABI. Now the system can provide a record of the last speed limit sign passed, correct the lane drift, and operate the adaptive headlights.
“Blind spot detection (BSD) is another option that now offers additional functionality on many vehicles,” stated research director Larry Fisher of ABI Research’s NextGen division.
Fisher noted that some radar-based BSD systems can use its sensors to determine when vehicles are approaching from the side when reversing out of a parking space, or can look further rearward to check for overtaking vehicles about to enter a blind spot.