Stay Ahead with ADAS: The Tech and Skills You Need

Fact: more and more vehicles with ADAS are coming in for collision repair, and the number is growing. If your workshop isn’t ready, you’ll miss out. So, what is ADAS, and what do you need to know about it?

ADAS is Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, and it’s challenging the ability of the collision repair industry to deliver safe, quality repairs

The motor vehicle collision repair industry is experiencing the most significant era of change in its history – and ADAS is driving it. In the UK, all new cars since 2016 have been equipped with some sort of ADAS technology, with the result that as many as 90 percent of vehicles coming into collision workshops are ADAS equipped.

Australia is catching up slowly, but catching up nevertheless. From Adaptive Cruise Control to Forward Collision Warnings, ADAS systems are being progressively included in new models. Most manufacturers use a combination of sensors and systems to help make vehicles safer, and these technologies are gradually making their way through Australia’s vehicle fleet. For instance, reversing technologies, which include reversing cameras and motion sensors, are now mandated in Australia.

The new standard, called Australian Design Rule 108/00 – Reversing Technologies, will apply to all types of light, medium and heavy vehicles, from everyday cars through to heavy goods trucks, and must be installed in all new vehicle models from 1 November 2025. For new vehicles made from existing models, this life-saving technology must be installed from 1 November 2027.

Another important feature is autonomous emergency braking (AEB), that can allow a car to automatically slow down if it senses vehicles ahead. In foggy conditions, AEB could help slow down drivers when they can’t see what is on the road in front of them .

Why is ADAS so important? Put simply, ADAS prevents deaths and injuries by reducing the number of car accidents caused by human error. Critical safety ADAS systems like pedestrian detection and lane departure warnings support and warn the driver, with data obtained both from within the vehicle and from the surroundings. Other key features of ADAS include things like automatic parking, tyre pressure monitoring, driver drowsiness detection, traffic sign recognition and night vision systems.

Challenges and Solutions

The challenge for collision repair workshops is not just understanding what ADAS is, but having the ability, and the capability, to safely repair the increasingly technology-based vehicles. ADAS technology is advancing rapidly, and it is critical that workshops stay updated with the latest technology; modern vehicles simply cannot safely be repaired without the correct automotive diagnostic and calibration tools and software.

This is where Repairify comes in. We provide all the ADAS solutions a collision repair workshop needs. Wherever you are based, we can assist and support your repair technicians to overcome the technological barriers that may be holding you back by offering remote diagnostics and access to the latest ADAS calibration tools and software.

Workshops of the future

While many in the insurance and collision repair industry delay, believing change to be years away, the reality is that the systems are here now. According to ANCAP, 60 of the top 100 selling models now offer Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) as standard equipment. As any vehicle repairer knows, AEB works by using sensors including radar, LIDAR and cameras, and then synchronising the data received to measure the distance to any vehicle in front, reacting if that distance shortens suddenly. Incorrect calibration will impact the accuracy of information being processed without providing any Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) notification. Any sensor component that is out of alignment or uncalibrated will return incorrect data, incapacitating the vehicle’s ADAS.

This is just one example of why it is critical that workshops engage in ongoing training and qualifications for ADAS repairs to ensure safety and efficiency. One of the most critical aspects of working with ADAS vehicles is knowing how to diagnose problems accurately. ADAS systems can be complex, and a malfunction can be difficult to identify without the right training or equipment. Technicians need to be trained to understand the ADAS system’s specifics to be able to determine which component is causing issues or concerns. With Repairify’s diagnostic tool at your fingertips, you can pinpoint precisely a problem within the most complex system.

Repairing ADAS systems requires specialised tools and equipment. Calibrating a camera or radar requires more than just simple tools – technicians must have access to specialised equipment that allows them to perform precise adjustments. Repairify is able to offer repair workshops the expertise to diagnose modern vehicles, aid technicians with repairs and get vehicles back on the road faster, enhancing the efficiency and profitability of the workshop.

A Positive Outlook

What does the future hold, when it comes to ADAS?

The ADAS market continues to grow and evolve technologically, with key trends like cloud computing for real-time data processing, AI integration for improved decision-making, and enhanced sensor technology for better object recognition and environment modelling. The ADAS market is expected to experience substantial growth, with projections indicating a 300% increase in less than a decade, exceeding the $130 billion mark. By 2050, ADAS technologies could potentially prevent approximately 250,000 fatalities, 14 million injuries, and 37 million vehicle accidents in the US alone*.

There is no doubting the impact all this will have on the Australian collision repair industry. The increasing complexity of modern vehicles will entail a gradual shift towards specialisation, with repair workshops able to offer the customer better quality repairs by using ADAS diagnostics and calibration tools. This provides an exciting opportunity for workshops to stay ahead of the curve by investing in ADAS solutions and training. With Repairify as part of your repair team, you will have all the ADAS diagnostic, programming, calibration, data and expertise you need to keep your business at the forefront of automotive collision repair. The automotive future is an exciting one – why not make it a successful and profitable as well!