The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a new report pushing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to update its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) to better a job at explaining self-driving vehicle technologies.
“NHTSA provides consumers with a description on partial driving automation systems, but there is little information about their intended use and operational limitations. Providing this information could assist consumers in developing a more accurate understanding of these systems,” GAO said.
The March. 28 report comes as an increasing number of Americans are purchasing vehicles with self-driving capabilities that enable them to drive without the need of being in complete control of the vehicle. At the same time, GAO said, some drivers have only a murky understanding of the self-driving tech’s capabilities.
“According to interviewed stakeholders and research GAO reviewed, when drivers have a realistic understanding of their vehicles’ driver assistance technologies, they are more likely to use them as intended,” GAO said.
“There is some evidence, however, that consumers do not always have an accurate understanding of technologies’ capabilities and limitations,” the watchdog agency emphasized.
The report makes it clear that new crash prevention technology in vehicles could lower the number of fatal car crashes across the country, which reached 42,000 in 2022.
“One study found that between 27 and 79 percent of consumers surveyed had misperceptions about the limitations of different crash avoidance technologies in their vehicles,” GAO said.
“In addition, misuse is a safety concern particular to partial driving automation systems, a type of driver support system, which can take over some of the driving tasks in a vehicle but still requires the full attention of the driver,” the agency said.
GAO made the following recommendations to NHTSA to better inform Americans about self-driving vehicle technology:
- Communicate to the public on NHTSA’s website for vehicle rating information the test conditions and performance criteria NHTSA uses to determine if a vehicle’s crash avoidance technologies qualify for a checkmark on the website;
- Provide more information on NHTSA’s public website about partial driving automation systems to clarify the scope of intended use and the driver’s responsibility to monitor the system and the driving environment while such a system is engaged;
- Finalize NHTSA’s roadmap for NCAP as soon as possible and include updated and realistic near-term and long-term time frames for changes to NCAP;
- Communicate progress on meeting time frames established in the agency’s roadmap for recommending additional crash avoidance technologies and provide updated milestones and reasons for delays as needed;
- Communicate progress on meeting time frames established in the roadmap for developing a system for rating the technologies and redesigning the new car sticker and provide updated milestones and reasons for delays as needed.
