IIHS and senators urge NHTSA to take action on automated driver assists

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety woke up and chose violence with a recent article on its website. Saying his employer had become the de facto regulator on the subject, IIHS Senior Research Scientist David Kidd called on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to do more about safe use of semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles.

Kidd’s writeup comes a few weeks after six U.S. senators sent a letter to NHTSA that raised grave concerns about its inaction to regulate automated driver assistance technologies. He echoed their concerns that drivers are misusing the tech, saying “automation can introduce new, often foreseeable risks.”

NHTSA has not required automakers and other companies to provide data on crashes involving automation technologies, making it difficult to evaluate their safety. Vehicles with advanced autonomous equipment are allowed to roam the roads without any additional safety or performance standards, and everyday drivers often incorrectly assume their vehicles’ aid systems make them self-driving. Kidd noted that automaker marketing and the names given to the features are at least partly to blame.