More cars now feature park assistance systems as standard, says Bosch

An increasing number of new cars sold in the UK feature parking assistance systems as standard, according to research by Bosch.

In 2017, 43% of all newly registered cars had an automatic emergency braking system on board, and 68% featured parking assist systems.

Other driver assistance systems such as remote parking, automatic lane-keeping support and drowsiness detection are also gaining in popularity, says Bosch.

Dr Dirk Hoheisel, member of the Bosch board of management, said: “More and more car buyers want a vehicle that anticipates and even intervenes in driving manoeuvres.

“Driver assistance systems aren’t just cool gadgets that make driving more convenient – they can save lives.”

The European Union is currently preparing legislation to mandate the installation of emergency braking systems.

This is expected to mean that all new vehicle models will have to have such a system on board starting in 2022.

The UN Economic Commission for Europe estimates that emergency braking assistants could save 1,000 lives a year in the EU.

Of all the new cars registered in the UK in 2017, 43% were fitted with such an emergency braking system, up from 31% in 2016.

The evaluation of statistics on newly registered cars from 2017 also revealed that, in addition to parking and braking assistance systems, two others are increasingly finding acceptance: drowsiness detection and lane-keeping functions.

Nearly 25% all new cars registered can detect when the driver is drowsy, and more than one in three cars comes equipped with at least one lane-keeping system.