We’re excited to see that Euro NCAP published its Vision 2030 in April, outlining its perspective on how to continue improving vehicle safety in the face of changing and growing technologies. But what does Euro NCAP Vision 2030 mean to you?
At OxTS we work with a lot of vehicle manufacturers – both OEMs, and niche players working on fully autonomous vehicles. In this blog, I want to look at what NCAP has said and what it might mean for our customers.
The new test system will increase the tests you need to do.
Perhaps the biggest news for vehicle manufacturers is that Euro NCAP is introducing a new system of testing in 2026. They will replace the current ratings for adults, children, vulnerable road users and driver assistance systems with four new categories: safe driving, crash avoidance, crash protection and post-crash safety.
It’s a continuation of the shift away from purely passive safety to a more holistic look at safety overall. Part of the rationale is to make the system less complicated. However, making it easier to integrate new technologies into the testing framework as they are developed is also key. Furthermore, the systems that our customers currently test, such as AEB, are no longer being tested in a specific context or location.
Euro NCAP has also plans to make active safety testing more representative of the real world, making tests “less idealised”. We will though have to wait to see exactly what that means. One conceivable consequence is that the way you incorporate ADAS targets into your tests may have to change. Self-navigating platforms may well become the standard, with the routes they need to follow becoming more detailed as the test attempts to accurately mimic the behaviour of road users.
“The OxTS RT-Range system is a very flexible system that allows users to get vehicle-to-target range data in any possible future scenario with up to four targets. Therefore, we firmly believe that RT-Range will remain the ‘go-to’ testing tool whatever these real-world scenarios look like”.
Robert Gough, Product Engineer, OxTS
Our advice in a nutshell
If you’re in charge of testing, be prepared to test any of your vehicle’s systems in a range of conditions and environments. Keep an eye out for developments that affect how you use ADAS targets, too.
You’ll need to train your simulator up
Euro NCAP has stated a desire to “step up the use of virtual testing” as part of the new system. This will allow manufacturers to conduct more tests faster than they would if doing them in the real world (though, of course, real-world tests will remain central to the Euro NCAP safety ratings).
However, given that the simulators will be used to run a wider variety of tests, in a greater range of conditions, it’s highly likely that you’ll need to go and gather data to build additional virtual tests.
Our advice in a nutshell
Look out for information about additional tests. As that becomes available, start planning in time to record new test scenarios for your simulator so you can hit the ground running.
Autonomous Vehicle Manufacturers – it could be your turn soon!
The Vision 2030 document devotes a page to the autonomous vehicle market. It may not surprise you to know that the focus is on vehicles that transport people (rather than autonomous lorries or delivery robots).
For now, Euro NCAP has said it would like to create a voluntary safety assessment for self-driving vehicles, and is actively welcoming partnerships with “relevant stakeholders.”
Up to now, there has been three fairly simple ‘highway assist’ type tests developed. These are cut in, cut out and s-bend scenarios.
But make no mistake – specialised assessments for autonomous vehicles will be coming. The Vision 2030 document says: “many of the underlying tests [in the existing Euro NCAP ratings] are meaningful if the requirements could be better adjusted to the operational design domain”, implying that the existing tests are at least a starting point for any manufacturer looking to test their safety systems. We know that many autonomous vehicle manufacturers are already conducting their own rigorous safety testing, so it may be advisable to investigate how closely your own tests align with the Euro NCAP assessments.
Our advice in a nutshell
Investigate whether your own safety tests are comparable to the existing Euro NCAP assessments. Beyond that, wait and see what the voluntary safety assessment looks like when it comes – or contact Euro NCAP directly and offer to contribute to the creation of that assessment.
The road ahead
As I read the Vision 2030 document it becomes more apparent that soon it won’t be possible to get a five-star rating without many of the systems that we help customers test. The demand this will put on the teams responsible for testing vehicles will be noticeable – there will be more tests required, perhaps more frequently, in more environments and conditions.
At the same time, the scrutiny on these systems and the standards to which they are held is going to start to rise. If everyone needs to have an AEB system, for instance, then the focus will soon shift to “how good is your AEB system?” This will fuel innovation at the system design level, but it will also require an additional level of accuracy when testing these systems.
At OxTS, we’ve spent over 25 years perfecting INS technology that helps deliver precision measurements while being scalable. We’re proud to be an integral part of many major OEM’s test payloads, and that our devices have been the reference systems for testing across the industry – including for Euro NCAP. If you’re thinking about how Vision 2030 will affect your testing setup and whether you need to revisit your hardware, we’d love to talk things through with you – just click here to get in touch.
“The continued evolution of ADAS development is very exciting from a test and validation point of view. The utility and flexibility of RT-Range will allow users to remain at the forefront, whatever comes along in the next few years.”
Robert Gough, Product Engineer, OxTS
