Vehicle Automation

When I was younger and worked in a service station, we never worried about driving the vehicles that we were repairing. Out on a road test, they all behaved the same. Press on the accelerator or brakes, steer and shift as required. That's not the case today as it could be dangerous to drive an unfamiliar new car.

An American Automobile Association (AAA) study in 2018 found that over the course of 4,000 miles of real-world driving, vehicles equipped with active driving assistance systems (ADAS) experienced some type of issue every 8 miles, on average. Drivers are reminded that ADAS is not a replacement for paying full attention at all times when you drive.

The University of British Columbia's Research on Active Transportation Lab has released information on their study about the Perceived Safety and Comfort of Pedestrian Interactions with Self-driving Vehicles (SDVs). The study was conducted to inform strategies for the responsible introduction of SDVs in a way that does not degrade the walking experience.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has issued a report on Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) and pedestrian crash risk. Current AEB systems with pedestrian detection are effective, but only during the daytime.

Real-World Use of Automated Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Their Consequences is a research report from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute that examines how a group of 50 drivers used the ADAS systems in their personal vehicles over a 12 month period. The study found that 47 of 235 safety critical events which occurred during that timespan involved ADAS use.

According to a study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers are substantially more likely to speed when using Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) or automations that combine ACC with lane centering than when not using either technology. The concern here is that abuse of the system will cancel out the safety benefit of having it.

This video from the Dutch Safety Board poses a very interesting question: "Who is in Control?" With more and more Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) being incorporated into new vehicles this is a very important consideration. News of collisions happening when these systems fail is not new. This raises another important question: "Who is at Fault?"

Do Advanced Driver Assistance and Semi-Automated Vehicle Systems Lead to Improper Driving Behavior? This report summarizes an analysis of data from two naturalistic driving studies using vehicles equipped with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The outcomes shed insight regarding driver behavior while using ADAS versus driving under normal conditions and the safety implications.