Cattle grid mistaken for wall by ADAS

Some cars have come off the road trying to cross a cattle grid after sensors mistook it for a wall and slammed on the brakes.

The cattle grid in Somerset, UK is located on a steep hill and was causing danger to road users, Somerset County Council said.

It caused vehicles to apply emergency braking and resulted in some leaving the road altogether in a bid to avoid what the vehicle’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) mistook for an obstruction.

The council has said it spent £70,000 in “ironing out the problem”, which included raising about 90ft (27.4m) of road and redesigning the “carriageway approaches”.

Dave Peake, highways service manager for Somerset County Council said: “It’s quite a steep hill and the cattle grid’s got to be reasonably level.

“But the problem was this sudden change in gradient.

“Some of the car’s sensors were detecting this as a wall so automatically applied the brakes.

“So we’ve actually re-profiled it to take out the sudden change in gradient.”