Oakes: Consider this amid ADAS transition

I recently rented a Nissan Maxima for a business trip. All the creature comforts were available, including a slew of advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS).

It was an uneventful ride until it came to driving the vehicle on the expressway — the main road of travel. The lane departure warning (LDW) was consistently alerting at the wrong moments.

Evidently, this vehicle was out of calibration. Was it a past accident and/or alignment, and was proper recalibration not addressed?

I turned off the feature; turning off a layer of collision/safety mitigation during my rental, and I'm thinking: "It just takes 'one.'"

Ample entities are based on the number 1: music compositions, first digit in the beginning of a common-count, brand-named companies, a place in queue, to name a few.

To the automotive technician, the numeral one is a principal factor when correcting camber, caster and toe angles to factory specs. The specialist wants to perform the job "one-and-done."

Nowadays, there is a not-so-new process that the alignment tech must complete beyond the x, y and z adjustments. Either the tech has not been trained, the shop does not have the equipment needed, or the staff didn't take the time to recalibrate the vehicle's ADAS components.

All it takes is one-degree out of calibration and the vehicle is headed into wrong-way traffic.

Doesn't sound like much, but one-degree out equates to one-foot deviation within 60 feet of travel.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the average local lane width is between 9 and 12 feet. With the average vehicle width at 6 to 7 feet — on a narrow-gauged roadway — your vehicle would cross the yellow line within 120 feet.

One-degree out of calibration could equal the length of the average single-family house lot.

Forward-facing cameras, LIDAR, sonar, RADAR units all play a part in keeping the car or truck within the white lines according to lane-departure warning (LDW) specs that depend upon vehicle alignment. When adjustments are performed, those sensor angles change.

Depending upon year/make/model (YMM), vehicle trim levels and engineering specifications will determine if the vehicle needs to have a static or dynamic recalibration to keep these driving aids in check. Or you may have an IP symbol looking back at you from the dashboard, the vehicle pulling you over the centerline.

Why are these steps so important? It's all about structuring the automobile's future autonomy. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) autonomous driving levels protocol J3016 has this ladder broken down into five categories:

Level 0: No automation. The driver is solely responsible for any action/reaction the vehicle makes in motion (i.e., my 1969 Plymouth is considered a Level 0 vehicle).

Level 1: There are separate entities that will control a vehicle function for safety or convenience (i.e., cruise control, anti-lock braking system).

Level 2: Partial automation is the next step. In some circumstances the vehicle can control multiple modules without driver interaction but requires constant driver monitoring of system take-over (i.e., Tesla autonomous city-highway driving, which requires driver consistent monitoring).

Level 3: Conditional automation under controlled environment (i.e., one of the better examples of this is the Mercedes Benz S-Class self-parking application at Stuttgart International airport; see QR for example).

Level 4: This level will not require driver intervention. It is moving passengers to and from their destinations most likely in a community near you. It involves companies such as Nuro (non-passenger, street-legal delivery vehicles) and Navya public transport in various test cities around the U.S.

A new entry to the Level 4 category is the A2GO project in Ann Arbor, Mich. Launched mid-October, the company has a fleet of five autonomous vehicles for on-demand rideshare within the university community.

Level 5: Vehicle can navigate — without assistance — in any environment, any type of weather conditions. To be continued.

Depending upon who's speaking, it will depend upon what answer you will get when it comes to the driverless-vehicle timeline. The traffic engineering demographic say that autonomous cars and trucks will take over our roads over the next 10 years.

While they may be ready with vehicle road structures and pulling out the stop signs and signals, embedded mechanical and electrical engineers have a different story. They are in the trenches. They know there is a lot more to accomplish before a mass production autonomous vehicles are placed on rail for distribution.

ADAS reminders

• Vehicle won't recalibrate properly? Check for minor accident damage to the front or rear bumper; scratches on lenses from road debris, car wash rollers, etc.
• Forward-facing camera issues? Check for windshield replacement errors. Check for cheap, cloned windshield replacement (camera can have difficulty seeing ahead).
• Get more ADAS training. As more and more companies launch their ADAS products, not only does training on the new equipment become important, but updated training will benefit the end-user as this technology progresses.
• Don't cheat on equipment. Don't be tempted to use paper/copied alignment targets for convenience of cutting costs. Use original targets for calibration/recalibration. It will pay off in the end.

Assimilation blend

Another issue to be addressed between the traffic and automotive engineers: Assimilation blend.

According to market and consumer data firm Statista Inc., a mere 276 million non-autonomous cars and trucks are registered in the U.S. Car & Driver magazine reports that the average lifespan is more than 12 years.

Too many vehicles to park. Too many vehicles to successfully interact with an autonomous vehicle, achieving zero contact point. Many entrepreneurs have stepped up to the plate and are moving those ill-equipped forward in the industry.

These companies have developed forms of aftermarket ADAS for those vehicles not equipped, functioning within the newer vehicles, going forward. Modules added to primary modules and antennae — lots of antennae — to communicate with other vehicles equally equipped.

Some units have the capability to process a nearby pedestrian based on the "ping" of a smartphone. Others can recognize a panic stop in the traffic lane ahead of the equipped vehicle and notify the driver of a pending emergency stop. Going forward, it's all about machine leaning to perfect the units ability to communicate.

Whether you like it or not, manufacturers are constantly collecting data on your vehicle and transportation situations — more machine learning towards the ultimate goal. It is up to techs in the real-world applications to keep those systems in designed order and the return data true.

Therefore, it's imperative that the alignment — both steering/suspension and driver-assist components — is precise. How can you make sure that these assist-system recalibrations are accurate? It all goes back to the base: the shop's tools and technician.

Alignment and ADAS equipment needs to have present-day software ensuring the latest camber/caster/toe specs for the YMM; subsequent static ADAS recalibration.

Alignment turntables and rear platform slides must be free of debris and can be moved easily with the light touch of a hand on platform. For those shops that do not have the static components to calibrate/recalibrate ADAS functions, the tech must recognize and emphasize that the vehicle is sublet to a qualified facility for recalibration or alert the customer to do so.

No time to cut corners

For those shops that want a piece of this service — and believing cost-cutting is an option — think, again.

There have been a plethora of videos and articles out there regarding regenerating targets via copy machines. Someone told me awhile back that they were just a "bunch of dots and squares; why not?"

This is the "why:"

A customer gets into an accident. A bad accident where ADAS could have been a factor. You get called into court as the last alignment/ADAS recalibration shop.

When the attorney asks you about technician experience and equipment updates, there will be a followup to that second question: the type of equipment used in the recalibration process. This includes equipment purchase and update receipts.

How are you going to explain that the ADAS recalibration targets were not purchased, but copied and infringed upon the originating manufacturer's copyright?

You do not want to open up your business or career as a technician to additional litigation and subsequently experience, not only the wrath of the accident attorney, but also the manufacturer's attorney for copyright violation.

Easy fix? Purchase the targets from a legitimate source with receipt.

Like I have said before, when all is said and done, you've got to do the job right, the first time. Because you only have one chance at one-degree perfection. If you plan on cutting corners to make the job "work," might as well close the tool box and just go home.

Pam Oakes has been embedded within the automotive industry for almost 30 years as an automotive applications engineer, instructor/course developer, 609 instructor/test proctor, automotive business expert/strategist, 20-year original start-up shop owner/multiple auto business owner, ASE Master automotive & medium/HD truck technician-trainer, diesel Class 8 instructor, automotive author, syndicated radio host and automotive-consumer news media commentator. And she still "turns wrenches" for fun.