In 1974, GM first built a data logger into the airbag system to record data from the airbag sensor and the explosion status of the airbag in the event of a serious collision of the vehicle. Later, in order to record the driving data of vehicle accidents, a car event data recording system called EDR (Event Data Record) was born.
In 2006, the United States formulated relevant standards for EDR. Later, after Countries and regions such as South Korea, Japan and Europe, the mainland also formulated and implemented EDR policies and standards. Before 2022, EDR will be mainly equipped on some imported models and electric vehicle models of new car manufacturing forces.
In the driving of new energy vehicles, there are more and more electronic control systems, and if there is a problem with the electronic control system of the car, it may also cause driving safety accidents, such as our common "brake system" failure problem. At this time, EDR, a system similar to the "black box" of the aircraft, can accurately restore the truth of the accident.
What can EDR do?
As a recording system for automotive event data, today's EDR can already monitor more and more driving data. For example, it can record the driving data of the vehicle when the accident occurs, including the car operation data of the three stages before the collision, the time of the collision and the post-collision, such as speed, ABS status, engine speed, steering wheel steering angle, airbag status, vehicle braking status, etc. In the subsequent determination of the responsibility for the vehicle accident, it is also possible to restore the situation of the vehicle before, at the time of the accident, and after the accident through these data, which are also data that the dashcam cannot "see".
Like the Tesla "brake failure" incident that has occurred frequently in China in recent years, it is impossible to determine who is responsible only by relying on the driving recorder. The emergence of EDR can make the cause of the accident much clearer.
For example, a Tesla Model 3 accident that occurred on April 22 this year in the Beijing Airport Second Expressway "sudden acceleration + brake failure" recently had an official response:
1. On April 22, the parties believed that the accident caused by the "brake failure" of the vehicle was reported as an insurance policy. Tesla then retrieved background data for verification, which showed that the driver avoided the truck in front of him and turned the steering wheel to the left, and slammed the acceleration pedal sharply during the steering, causing the speed of the car to rise and eventually lead to a collision, and the driver did not step on the brake pedal before the collision. After the first collision, the driver pressed the accelerator pedal for a long, sustained, and large margin, and many more collisions occurred. During consecutive collisions, the driver has two successive braking pedals and each time the brake pedal lasts less than 1 second. Tesla then informed the parties of the situation, but the parties expressed their disapproval.
2. The insurance company hopes to divide the responsibility by retrieving EDR data, and the parties contact the relevant departments of the national automobile quality supervision to express their hope to investigate the matter, and the relevant departments have responded quickly. Therefore, under the joint witness of the relevant state departments, parties, third-party experts and Tesla four parties, the on-site EDR data collection of the accident vehicle was carried out on April 27. The results showed that the EDR data was consistent with the conclusion of the background data analysis.
To put it simply, it is the EDR data that confirms that this matter is caused by the owner stepping on the wrong accelerator pedal, the data is not public, and we are not good at evaluating. But what is certain is that the existence of EDR has played a key role in determining responsibility for the above accidents.
The interpretation of EDR's driving data and data privacy issues are more worthy of our attention. Or tesla as an example, in addition to the Tesla Roadster produced from 2008 to 2012 is not equipped with EDR, Tesla's various models are equipped with this system. However, due to various reasons, EDR data is not available to everyone. Moreover, at present, the EDR system of various car companies is not uniform, and the retrieval of EDR data requires layers of approval, which also brings some negative effects to the existence of EDR.
Indeed, the installation of EDR will play a positive role in improving the safety of the automotive industry and will also help protect the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises and consumers. However, the premise is that EDR data is not leaked and tampered with at the same time, while showing openness and transparency to the greatest extent, which also puts forward higher requirements for the formulation of standards.
How necessary is it to install EDR?
In fact, EDR has been popularized in many countries for many years, such as South Korea as early as December 2015 began to mandatory new cars to install EDR, the United States in 2019 new car EDR penetration rate has exceeded 99%, the European Union will also be mandatory in March 2022 to install EDR for new cars.
In 2021, China also issued the "Motor Vehicle Operation Safety Technical Conditions" National Standard No. 2 amendment order, requiring that newly produced passenger cars from January 2022 must be equipped with EDR, which means that from January 1, 2022, EDR will become the standard for new cars!
According to GB 39732-2020 "Automotive Event Data Recording System", the data recorded in EDR is divided into A and B levels, and it is carried out in a step-by-step manner.
From January 1, 2022, new cars must meet the requirements for recording Class A data, including longitudinal acceleration, anti-lock braking system status, clipping signs, longitudinal delta-V, maximum recorded longitudinal delta-V, time to reach longitudinal maximum delta-V, revolutions per minute (RPM) (for internal combustion engines and drive motors), driver seat belt status, accelerator control (pedal) position, percentage of fully open position, turn signal switch status, and many other data.
With this data, you can basically help determine the cause of the accident. If there is a similar "brake failure" incident before, it will greatly reduce the fermentation of various types of public opinion, and directly use the data of the vehicle to explain the truth.
By 2024, the EDR standard for new cars will need to meet the B-Class. The B level can also be regarded as an upgraded version of the A class, which can record more data, such as: the steering angle of the vehicle, gear position, the precise time of the accident, the various states of the airbag, tire pressure, constant speed cruise information, etc., and also record the data of at least three accidents.
With the development of EDR technology and the gradual improvement of relevant standards and regulations, there will be more and more vehicles equipped with EDR, and its application areas and fields will continue to expand. At that time, EDR will also become an important means to determine the responsibility of road traffic accidents, and help the identification of vehicle accidents. It can be seen that EDR is also imperative to become the standard of new energy vehicles.
Master observation
In today's automotive market, the mention of new energy models will inevitably be linked to "intelligent networking" and "automatic driving". With the rapid increase in the penetration rate of new energy vehicles, ordinary consumers have been able to truly feel the new advantages brought by new energy vehicles, and intelligent networking has also been affirmed by consumers. But when it comes to autonomous driving, despite the bells and whistles of marketing, most models are still in their infancy. Accidents such as "brake doors" and "reversing doors" occur frequently, which are all stumbling blocks hindering the development of automatic driving. The standard configuration of EDR can be regarded as the "referee" of automatic driving, and with its existence, it can make automatic driving regain the trust of consumers.