Technology’s Growing Role in a Safer Automotive Landscape

Road Safety Strategy 2026.

In light of the Department for Transport’s Road Safety Strategy 2026, it is clear that European vehicle safety requirements are entering a new phase, one increasingly shaped by technology, data, and real-time industry insight.

The strategy places a stronger emphasis on preventative action, with the key aim of achieving a 65% reduction in people killed or seriously injured on Great Britain’s roads by 2035. Theme two within the strategy discusses how we can take advantage of technology, data, and innovation for safer vehicles, as well as post-collision care. The direction is clear: vehicle safety is becoming more data-driven, more connected, and more proactive. The critical question now is how evolving technological capabilities across the automotive industry can support and accelerate this reduction.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS).

The continuous evolution of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) will play an important role in supporting the Road Safety Strategy’s focus on prevention. Technologies such as Automatic Emergency Braking, lane-keeping assistance, speed assistance, and driver monitoring systems not only help identify risk for human intervention but can also intervene before incidents occur.

Human factors such as distraction, fatigue, and delayed reaction times remain common contributors to road accidents. By embedding ADAS systems across all new vehicles, an additional safety layer is introduced, one that helps compensate for human error while supporting safer driving behaviour. This is something the government is committed to, with proposals for 18 new vehicle safety technologies to be embedded into the automotive market in Great Britain.

However, technology should act as an enabler, not a replacement, for the driver.
As ADAS-equipped vehicles become more widespread, they also generate valuable data. Continuous review of this data by automotive partners, regulators, and manufacturers is essential to improve understanding of where risks occur and how safety systems perform in real-world conditions, enabling more effective, data-led safety insights. Overall, these data-led insights can enable proactive safety improvements, allowing stakeholders to refine technology and target interventions as early as possible.

Automatic Emergency Braking and Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems.

Bosch has stated that up to 75% of rear-end collisions involving personal injury could be avoided with the use of Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) systems. As a newer advancement within the ADAS family, Reverse Emergency Braking (REB) is set to significantly impact the reduction of low-speed collisions, particularly in urban and residential environments.

While forward-facing AEB systems have evolved over the past decade, post-2023 vehicle models have begun introducing braking capability while reversing, extending automated safety support into additional driving scenarios. Alongside this, Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems (AVAS) on electric vehicles provide further safety enhancement by emitting external sounds at low speeds, typically below 12 mph, which closely aligns with the speeds at which most reversing manoeuvres occur.

Together, REB and AVAS complement existing ADAS features by enhancing both driver awareness and pedestrian safety, particularly in urban areas. By improving vehicle detectability and reducing reliance on human reaction alone, these technologies support vulnerable road users and contribute to a broader shift towards preventative, technology-led safety measures as vehicle capability continues to evolve.

Consumer Understanding of ADAS.

While these features create the foundation for a safer automotive landscape, without full understanding they can introduce new barriers and, in some cases, increase the risk of reducing overall road safety.

A driver’s understanding of ADAS capabilities is essential to ensure these systems are used correctly and not overestimated to the point where drivers become over-reliant on their functionality. As these systems operate within specific parameters, driver attention and reaction times must remain high, with responsibility for vehicle control ultimately remaining with the driver. Alongside this, misunderstanding how these capabilities work may lead drivers to disable features altogether, removing critical safety layers and reducing the preventative benefits these systems are designed to deliver.

Research conducted by the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) in 2024 showed that 86% of consumers have ADAS technologies on their vehicles, but only 18% fully understood what ADAS is. Suggestions such as improved education, clearer communication, and wider public awareness and road safety campaigns have therefore been highlighted as key measures to support both consumer and pedestrian understanding of these systems.

ADAS and AVAS systems are only as effective as the people using them. By combining technology with education, clarity, and data-led insight, the industry can ensure these systems deliver their full potential in reducing risk and improving road safety.