The Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE) have endorsed an ongoing effort to reduce consumer confusion through a standardized nomenclature for ADAS technology. That effort, championed by AAA, the National Safety Council, Consumer Reports, JD Power, and SAE International, is meant to educate car buyers on the limitations and proper use cases for current ADAS technology.
Reducing Confusion
A standardized list of popular ADAS terms and systems, completed with input from each organization, is available now (PDF). The list does not call for automakers to replace their propriety nomenclature. Instead, it is meant to answer questions consumers may have by giving in-depth descriptions of common ADAS systems and their functionality.
“We know that familiarity with today’s advanced safety technology helps consumers understand the possibilities of tomorrow’s technology. And we know that confusion about that technology reduces trust and confidence in vehicles today and vehicles under development for the future,” explained Tara Andringa, PAVE Executive Director. “PAVE’s mission is to help everyone join the conversation about our transportation future, and providing clear, consistent vocabulary for that conversation is an important step.”
“As safety technologies advance and as new systems are developed, we plan to work with stakeholders to refine the naming outline to keep the public and industry informed,” added Keith Wilson, Technical Program Manager at SAE International.
Addressing The Misunderstandings
AAA notes that manufacturers today use as many as 20 different names to describe a single ADAS feature, increasing consumer confusion about how the technology operates. The full PDF report from AAA can be found here. In PAVE’s most recent poll, 39 percent of respondents admitted to being confused by the different names for ADAS technology.
“Defining these lower levels of driving automation is not just an important step in fostering a broad social conversation about this technology, it also helps address real misunderstandings about technologies on the road today,” writes the PAVE team in a recent Medium post.
Recently, PAVE hosted a virtual panel with AAA, the National Safety Council, and Consumer Reports on the importance of a common nomenclature for ADAS technology. The recording of that panel discussion is below.
