What is ADAS?

ADAS stands for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems - the umbrella term for the driver-assist technology increasingly fitted to modern cars, including things like automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, and parking sensors or cameras.

What it means in practice: ADAS features are designed to assist, not replace, the driver, and they vary a lot between cars, and even between different versions of the same model. It's also relevant after certain repairs - some ADAS features, particularly cameras and sensors linked to the windscreen or bumpers, need to be reset and re-aimed after glass replacement or bodywork, so it's worth checking that's been done properly if a car's had that kind of repair.