U.S. regulators on Tuesday said they would keep a closer eye on the automotive industry as it rolls out advanced driver safety systems, tracking the new technologies to spot potential defects faster.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued an order requiring automakers and operators of vehicles equipped with advanced driver assistance or automated driving systems to report crashes within one day of learning of an incident.
“Gathering data will help instill public confidence that the federal government is closely overseeing the safety of automated vehicles,” Steven Cliff, the NHTSA’s acting administrator, said on a Tuesday briefing with reporters.
The safety agency’s chief counsel, Ann Carlson, added: “It is critical that NHTSA has timely access to the information it needs to identify potential defects in the vehicles equipped with these systems.”
Level 2 advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are an increasingly common feature on many new vehicles, helping drivers with such features as warnings if the car drifts across lane lines on the road and a more advanced cruise control system that adjusts a vehicle’s speed to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle ahead. Vehicles with Level 3-5 automated driving systems (ADS) are not currently sold to consumers but are in limited use on public roads around the country.
