GAO Urges NHTSA to Educate the Public More on ADAS
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report in which it urges the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to "take action to enhance consumer understanding of capabilities and limitations" of Advanced Driving Assistance Systems technology.
The report warns that the public largely doesn't understand the capabilities and limitations of ADAS, which could lead to its misuse and an increase in accidents. "For example, one study found that 27 percent of survey respondents did not understand that lane departure warning will not alert if a turn signal is active while drifting in that direction; 33 percent did not understand that automatic emergency braking relies on sensors or cameras that may be blocked by dirt, ice, or snow; and 79 percent did not know that blind spot warning systems are not designed to detect vehicles passing at extremely fast speeds."
NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) comprises an important tool in the agency's arsenal that it can use to educate the public on the scope of ADAS capabilities. However, long-awaited updates to NCAP have not been produced yet. The GAO report recommended that NHTSA "finalize its NCAP roadmap, communicate progress on meeting time frames to update NCAP, and provide information to consumers on the limitations of partial driving automation systems on its website."