Interview with Adrian Parkes | ADAS and the Australian Auto Industry

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are the integrated software and hardware – such as radar, lidar, and camera sensors -that work together to enable features like lane departure warning, automatic emergency braking, and adaptive cruise control. The integration of ADAS in new vehicles presents significant challenges for the automotive repair and maintenance industry. If any of the hardware is misaligned then the system can misinterpret road conditions, leading to false alerts, or worse. Automotive businesses need to understand ADAS for this critical safety reason.

However, there are other reasons for businesses to really get a grip on understanding ADAS. These factors include legal and regulatory compliance, insurance, customer expectations, and business reputation. ADAS systems are part of every new vehicle, and this means that, at some point, every automotive business is going to have to deal with them. So, what are the options that business owners should be considering? In a recent episode of The Motor Chronicles, editor of Motor Trader, Jonathan Nash, sat down with Adrian Parkes, founder of ADAS Solutions Australia, to talk all things ADAS.

Adrian’s company, ADAS Solutions Australia, offers diagnosis, repair, calibration, coding, programming, and initialisation of ADAS components – think radar, lidar and cameras, amongst others – and also sells diagnostic and ADAS calibration tools and equipment. It has centres located across the country – including in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Western Australia, and South Australia – and more than 40 technicians in its team delivering its services. Through its partnership with MTA Queensland, ADAS Solutions Australia also delivers training courses enabling automotive professionals to get a good grasp of ADAS technology. With his decades of experience within the automotive industry both in Australia and internationally and having worked with ADAS technologies for nearly 20 years, Adrian’s interview with The Motoring Chronicles covers a variety of ADAS-related topics. From the technology to training and equipment, from requirements for becoming an ADAS calibration provider to issues of insurance and more, the interview gives real insight into this growing sector of the automotive industry.