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In reviewing Deepal’s just-released S07 mid-size EV SUV CarsGuide’s Andrew Chesterton called the newcomer’s active (crash-avoidance) safety systems “the single biggest drawback of the Deepal experience” defining them as “the most annoying (and) infuriating” he had ever come across.
In the front of the firing line was the driver attention monitor which he said, “seems rigged to go off if you so much as blink, sending chimes binging and bonging throughout the cabin, increasing in number like a bomb about to go off. Honestly, it has to be experienced to be believed.”
But other systems including lane-keeping assist and adaptive cruise control also came in for criticism. And CarsGuide wasn’t alone, with other media outlets given pre-sales access to the car calling out these shortcomings.
Now, to its credit, Deepal Australia has not only acknowledged these issues but has moved to rapidly rectify them with work undertaken on the ground in Australia and at (Deepal parent) Changan’s sprawling proving ground in Chongqing, China.
During a recent preview drive in China of new Deepal models confirmed for Australian sale later this year, factory executives including CEO of Changan Automobile Asia-Pacific Mr. Shen, Changan International Vice Director Asia Pacific Arieson Zhang and Changan Australia's National Director Howie Xu confirmed re-engineering work is well under way.
In fact, early Australian feedback on driver monitoring and ADAS systems has adjusted the brand’s approach to this market with with more open road (as opposed to laboratory) evaluation undertaken.
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A Changan engineering spokesperson told CarsGuide, “We will do more real-world tests in Australia and will make Australian driving scenarios entries into our software data bank and adjust to those live scenarios.”
Deepal Australia General Manager Cormac Cafolla added, “We’re bringing E07 engineering vehicles to Australia for testing on the road. And in the next couple of weeks we’ll have a team of between four and seven engineers come to Australia and do real world testing.
“And that will test all of the system set-ups and that gives us time before we bring the car to market to launch to make sure that sensitivities, system set ups and everything is conditioned to the expectation of the Australian consumer,” he said.
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“With the S07 there is a team of engineers in Australia right now as well as the support of the Changan group who are reengineering elements of the software.
“We acknowledge your reviews. And we’ve used them and shared them with the whole team as insight into areas of improvement.
“Driver monitoring is I think the one area we’ve all noticed with the vehicle, so some of the engineering software that’s coming just changes the triggers as to what sets it off, how many seconds the eyes are off the road, without compromising what we feel is key for safety.
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“But we’ll also then look at the tone of the beeps, the number of beeps, as well as some of the systems that are connected with lane-keep assist and other elements to deliver a more suited drive experience,” he said.
It’s interesting to note CarsGuide understands many Chinese consumers are reassured by regular tones and chimes related to a car's safety systems; the very ‘bings and bongs’ Aussies typically find so annoying.
In terms of timing, Mr Cafolla says, “The update to (the) Australian S07 is currently undergoing final validation and testing in China.
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“The plan is then to deploy it to a select number of VINs in the coming weeks. And subject to our engineering feedback from the (Australian Deepal importer) Inchcape team we’ll then decide as to whether it needs some further adjustment or some tweaking and then the plan is to do an over-the-air software release.
“We’re not talking six to 12 months, we’re talking weeks. Speed is really, really important,” he said.
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