Introducing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) as standard equipment with cars delivers clear reductions in the number of accidents they are involved in, according to Allianz.

The insurer said that its Allianz Centre for Technology had looked at liability claims over the period 2022-2024 for compact cars in Germany, focusing on collisions that occurred during low-speed reversing manoeuvres, and rear-end collisions in moving traffic. 

It said that a car manufacturer which had introduced rear autonomous emergency braking (AEB) as standard equipment in 2018 had seen reverse parking collisions fall by 66%, while a second manufacturer which made the system an optional extra saw a decline of 29%, and models without the technology saw virtually no improvement.

As for rear-end collisions, Allianz said there was a 30% average decline over the past decade, with the scale of improvement depending on how early and broadly AEB was rolled out. It said some models saw only single-digit declines, while others achieved reductions of up to 46%.

Discussing the findings at Allianz’s Motor Day event, Allianz board member Klaus-Peter Rohler said that the data was necessary to augment findings on autonomous driving  systems based on controlled pilots or idealised tests in the United States, which did not reflect the reality of driving on European roads.

He said: “For Allianz, this argues for broad, standardized implementation of driver assistance systems.

“Make effective assistance standard, and safety gains follow immediately. Make it optional and the benefits stay modest.”

Allianz says its data provides evidence for the potential future benefits of fully autonomous vehicles.

Head of the Allianz Centre for Technology Christian Sahr said: “Safety is the biggest promise autonomous vehicles can bring into the world. 

“90% of all accidents are caused by human error and that technology is really able to erase all these errors caused by driver distraction or misjudgement. 

“As we already see, autonomous acting systems are really able to reduce [insurance] claim frequency. Rear AEB has reduced claim frequency by 66%, so we see the potential, and if you imagine a system consisting of all these autonomous-acting systems in one whole system, [you can see] how big the potential is that we can achieve.”