While many automakers continually push the envelope of autonomous driving, Subaru says it will play it the smart way and wait for the driverless technology to mature further before equipping it into its vehicles.
Subaru America’s new CEO, Tom Doll told CarAdvice that no matter what some other companies might say publicly, for now, drivers need to keep their eyes on the road. “You can’t take your eyes off the road,” he said. “Despite what some other manufacturers might be saying about their system, or trying to rush them too much into the marketplace, we are going to do it in a smart way.”
This comes on the back of the recent tragedy involving an autonomously operated vehicle by Uber and a separate incident involving a Tesla Model X which crashed in the US, killing its driver. The Tesla was reportedly running in Autopilot mode.
Doll went on to say that Subaru will not prioritise the benefits of being an early adopter of the tech with a potentially immature technology above its customer safety. “We are going to do it in a way to make sure our customers are safe, we are going to try and prevent collisions first, and from there we will take it forward.”
The company’s stance on autonomous driving manifests itself in the form of a new driver monitoring system. Fitted to the all-new Subaru Forester, the tech incorporates facial recognition systems that not only allow preference settings for each assigned driver (up to five), but also go hand-in-hand with the company’s EyeSight system to help prevent collisions.
“It recognises your face, the face of the driver, so if you’re staring away for a couple of seconds it will alert you – but if you don’t put your eyes back on the system, it will start to work in combination with our EyeSight system to prevent any kind of crash that EyeSight can protect from. So it’s a very, very unique type of system in this price range,” explained Doll.
“You can see where we are going. Our EyeSight technology is, if not the best then one of the best systems out there. You combine it with lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control and now driver focus; if I wanted to drive it to New Jersey [from New York] and don’t touch anything, I could probably get away with it.”
Beyond that, Subaru will take the safer approach by prolonging its adoption of level three or level four autonomous driving technologies. In fact, the company doesn’t have a timeframe as yet. “It’s out there, we don’t have a specific timetable, I won’t say decades but it’s not imminent,” said Doll.
What is your stand on this, guys? Is Subaru doing the right thing by waiting it out, or will it lag behind in the pursuit of driverless technology? Share with us your thoughts in the comments section below.
GALLERY: 2019 Subaru Forester
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This ia good tech for guys who hate to look at wife face..now u have the right support .
It is impossibe to have a driverless car. When we drive, we not only see the car, we see the facial expression of the other driver.
Can a machine see the facial expression of the other driver and determine his moves?
Subie to pass. must test out driverless tech on msia rempits like shaitann infested road.
Wait for others to come out with a fool-enuff proof system then adopt it. Thats smart.
Fool Proof !!! U must be kidding !! Man learn from mistakes & in some case 100 or 1,000 mistakes B4 it can be perfected if there is such thing as perfect.
That’s how bulbs was invented & it continue to improve to florescent light > to Light Emitting Diode(LED). It is a continuance process we call Work In Progress(WIP)
If man wait for everything to be “perfect” B4 launching, I’m afraid U & me wont be communicating here NOW. Its too bad there will be collateral damaged when man wants to ADVANCE otherwise U can continue to “stay in a Cave”(your favorite quote).
U write so long yet u dun even read properly b4 bash. Ada nampak tak “fool-enuff proof”?
Meaning nothing is complete but gud enuff to be use on normal roads with nearly no problems. Killing a homeless pedestrian is definitely not it.
john, just when is “fool-enuff proof” good enuff to be use for public for U ??
I believe a product has gone through rigorous R&D B4 they are put into market but it will never be a “perfect” product.
It is a continuing process call WIP & that is my point. Don’t use “Killing a homeless pedestrian” as your defense.
In case U forget, the recent lady killed by Uber is the DRIVER at fault. Looks like U have just shot your own foot here.
Driver fault? Then why its Uber who settled? Who shot his own foot here? And if u wanna know when its ready, read above what i said, sheesh.
well, someone will still have to take the first step right?
The CEOs of these companies shud listen ur advice and take the 1st step in front of their autonomous cars just to assure Joe Public.
It is sad that some people still stubbornly want to introduce driverless cars despite the many accidents. How much effort and time will it take for human to personally drive the car? if don’t feel like driving, just take public transport.
Driverless car actually is like a toy, but this is toying with REAL DEATH! Those who have remote control planes for fun knows the possibility is it will crash one day. And that is using man to control. Now if driverless car uses the driverless car itself to control, don’t you think it can be more possibility to get crashed? And if the driverless car needs man to control, then what’s the point having the driverless car after all!
For what Subie states there will be people who say they’re unreasonable and such. But hey there’s a saying, the reasonable man adapts himself to the world, the unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
Well, somebody need to take the first step and the risk. If Subaru doesn’t quite have the resources for it, then it’s definitely smart to wait. I do agreed though that the others should refrain from rushing the technology, even if ROI is at the forefront of their mind.