Subaru’s Tech That Brakes For Bicyclists Shows Promise

Early versions of Subaru’s EyeSight crash avoidance system are successful in preventing certain types of collisions with bicyclists, but not all.

The bicyclist detection technology stopped nearly 30% of police-reported crashes with bicycles traveling parallel to the road, but had little impact on reducing clashes with bicyclists overall, including crossing crashes — the most common type.

Those are the main findings of a new study released earlier this month by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit financed by the insurance industry, that addressed Subaru’s system to protect cyclists.

“It’s promising that these early versions of EyeSight prevented crashes with bicycles traveling parallel to the road, but to have a meaningful impact, AEB systems also need to be able to prevent crashes with bicycles that are crossing in front of the vehicle,” Jessica Cicchino, vice president of research at the Insurance Institute and author of the study, said in a statement.

EyeSight is a group of advanced driver assistance features, typically enabled by two cameras mounted behind the windshield, that includes automatic emergency braking (AEB) and other technologies. It was one of the earliest crash avoidance systems capable of preventing bicycle crashes, researchers said.

The study, which examined data from 16 U.S. states from 2014-2020, compared Subaru models without the technology to Subaru models equipped with the first two generations of the EyeSight system, designed to detect only bicycles traveling in a parallel path to the vehicle, but not more common crossing scenarios.

Previous research by the Insurance Institute indicated that AEB is effective in reducing crashes both with other vehicles and pedestrians, but systems designed to avoid bicycles have been slower to take off, researchers said, noting that nearly 1,000 bicyclists were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2021, a more than 50% increase since 2010.

The third (latest) generation of EyeSight, which is designed to prevent more crash scenarios, is already available in some Subarus, but it is too soon to assess how the changes will impact its effectiveness, researchers said. Those models include: the 2022 Forester and WRX in the U.S. market, and the 2023 Ascent, Legacy and Outback, which also have a third camera that expands the system’s field of view.

“Potentially, that wider scope could allow the system to detect crossing bicyclists sooner,” according to the study.

“These technologies are fantastic, but it will be a long time before every vehicle in the fleet is equipped with such a system,” Cicchino added.

It is essential that systems are able to identify and avoid bicyclists in the dark, when the risk of a fatal crash is highest, she said. “That’s why we need things like better roadway lighting to help drivers to see cyclists at night as well as more separated bike lanes and other infrastructure improvements that we know reduce crash risk.”

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