Featuring the most driver assistance systems a Volkswagen vehicle has ever seen, the Arteon will take over if the driver ever becomes incapacitated.
Called Emergency Assist 2.0, it is not a fully-autonomous system as it won't transport you to the nearest hospital or continue the journey on its own.
Instead, it was designed to recognized if a driver has lost consciousness, attempt to wake them up and failing that, steer itself to a side lane and come to a complete stop. Emergency Assist 2.0 combines existing VW safety features including Adaptive Cruise Control, Side Assist, Lane Assist and Park Assist.
With the use of sensors, the Arteon will take notice if a driver has not made any gas, brake or steering input for a defined length of time. After that, it will attempt to wake the driver with acoustic and visual signals along with a physical brake tap. Failing that, the system will take over and proceed with the emergency stop process: turn on hazard lights, perform gentle steering manoeuvres and bring the vehicle to a stop in the nearside lane when safe to do so.
On roads with multiple lanes, the Arteon will first steer itself to the 'slow' lane in a controlled manner before attempting to stop in the emergency lane or on the roadside.
While the
press release doesn't mention this, we can only assume that the vehicle will automatically contact emergency responders once it has come to a complete stop.
