CHAPTER 4

Identify Populations and ADAS

As the research team synthesized the findings from the review activities and identified the gaps in educational materials, they formulated a list of populations who might benefit from ADAS education and training. These populations included those for whom materials were identified, as well as those who were not represented. After compiling the list, the team constructed a brief online survey to solicit feedback from the SME panel about both the populations and the ADAS they would prioritize for education. Nineteen of the 24 experts invited completed the survey. Thirteen members of the SME panel also attended a virtual meeting with the research team. After providing a project update and sharing high-level findings from the review activities and the SME survey, each research team member facilitated a breakout session with a small group of experts. Based on the discussion and feedback from the SME panel, the research team identified a population and ADAS to feature in the guidance to practitioners.

4.1 Populations

The populations included in the survey were identified from the review activities and additional brainstorming sessions. Populations were categorized into four categories: operators, consumers, service providers, and other.

The first category was operators of passenger vehicles or commercial vehicles equipped with ADAS. The experts rated the level of importance of providing ADAS education and training for each operator subpopulation on a scale of 0 (no importance) to 10 (highest level of importance). The experts’ mean ratings are shown in Table 11, and the operator subpopulations with the highest ratings were novice drivers (8.7), users new to ADAS (8.5), and drivers with disabilities related to aging or other conditions¹ (7.6). Table 11 displays central tendencies as the team did not conduct inferential statistics. After providing ratings, the experts were invited to suggest other types of operators who were not represented in the list.

For the other three population categories, the survey provided a description of the subpopulations identified by the research team and invited the experts to suggest other types of individuals who might need ADAS education and training.

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¹ The research team recognizes that this phrasing may be concerning as it associates changes in functional ability due to aging with “disability.” This was not the intention. The CDC (2024) defines a disability as “any condition of the body or mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities (activity limitation) and interact with the world around them (participation restrictions).” Based on this definition, the team’s intention was for this category to capture drivers with any conditions that might make it more difficult to perform the activity of driving, including conditions associated with human aging. The team has retained this phrasing in this document as it reflects the language that was presented to the SME panel.

Table 11. Mean importance for providing ADAS training and education for operator subpopulations, as rated by subject matter experts.

The consumer category was defined as those who are purchasing or renting passenger vehicles or commercial vehicles equipped with ADAS. These include individuals buying vehicles for their personal use, those acquiring vehicles for a loved one, and those selecting vehicles for work-related purposes. Additionally, this category encompasses customers purchasing directly from a manufacturer’s dealership, from other vendors, or through private party sales. Among these consumers, there are also individuals for whom the presence of ADAS is a significant factor in their purchasing decision.

Another broad population of individuals who might need ADAS education and training are service providers. This category includes individuals who sell vehicles with ADAS, company agents who facilitate the rental of such vehicles, and professionals who service or repair them. It also covers fleet vehicle managers who oversee vehicles equipped with ADAS and customer support personnel who assist users with these systems.

Other subpopulations who may benefit from education and training on ADAS encompass a diverse range of subpopulations:

• Educators, such as those who train operators—including driver educators, CMV trainers, driver improvement instructors, and driver rehabilitation specialists—as well as curriculum developers.
• Regulators, including officers responsible for enforcing laws and investigating crashes, government employees or agents in charge of vehicle registrations and operator licenses, and legislators.
• Others in the driving landscape, like agents who provide insurance for vehicles, individuals involved in building and maintaining infrastructure, operators who do not drive vehicles equipped with ADAS, researchers, and media.

4.2 ADAS

The SME panel was asked to prioritize three ADAS for education and training and to evaluate the impact of various factors on each selection. They were also asked to provide feedback about which ADAS technologies could benefit from being combined for education and training.

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² Ibid.

4.2.1 Most Important ADAS for Training and Education

Table 12 details the experts’ ratings for which ADAS they thought training and education was most important. ADA was selected as the most important ADAS by eight experts, and another five selected it as their second or third most important. ACC was selected as one of the three most important ADAS by 10 experts.

Table 12. Number of experts who selected each ADAS as first, second, or third highest in importance for training and education.

When developing the SME survey, the research team identified six factors that could influence the selection of which ADAS are most important. Experts gave feedback on the size of “effect” each factor played in their decision to prioritize the ADAS they selected, with responses ranging from “no effect” to “large effect.” Table 13 shows how many experts reported the given factor had a “large effect” on their selection of ADA and ACC separately, as well as for the other seven other ADAS features as a collective. The level of driver understanding required for appropriate use of ADAS stood out as the most critical factor across all ADAS, with even greater significance for ADA and ACC. When selecting ADA and ACC, experts placed more consideration on the potential for the operator to misuse the ADAS, the complexity of the ADAS, and the ease or difficulty for the operator to enable or disable the ADAS, relative to the other ADAS features. Of the experts who selected one or more of the other seven ADAS in their three most important, more than half said the prevalence in the vehicle fleet and the safety benefit of ADAS had a large effect on their choice.

Experts were invited to identify additional factors they considered when selecting which ADAS they thought were most important. The factors mentioned included the potential for drivers to be confused, startled, or distracted if they don’t understand or cannot anticipate the behavior of the ADAS, as well as the potential for the driver to over-rely on the ADAS.

4.3 Selection of Population and ADAS for Phase II

The work completed in Phase II featured a specific population who could benefit from education or training for specific ADAS technology. While it is worth noting that most populations could benefit from education or training, focusing on one population and one ADAS allowed the research team to demonstrate the application of the guidance outlined in the practitioner guide. The selection of the population and the ADAS technology was informed by the findings from the team’s review and documentation of the current state of ADAS education, the gaps and inaccuracies identified, and advice from subject matter experts.

4.3.1 Population Selection

During Phase II, the team focused on education for operators who are new users of ADAS. This population includes drivers of both passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles. Providing ADAS education to this population of operators was rated with a high level of importance by the experts. In many cases, users new to ADAS will include other subpopulations, like novice and older drivers, consumers who are making decisions about purchasing vehicles, and individuals who are providing services related to vehicles equipped with ADAS.

As observed in the scientific literature, there is some evidence to suggest ADAS training may have additional benefits for new users of ADAS (e.g., Pai et al. 2021). Based on recommendations from Forster and colleagues (2019A), providing training to drivers new to ADAS may foster mental model development, improve the use of ADAS, and mitigate the risk inherent to trial-and-error learning. Additionally, targeting new users of ADAS is a more direct and effective approach compared to prioritizing driver characteristics that are indirectly related to ADAS experience and proficiency (e.g., technology skeptics, novice drivers, older drivers).

In many cases, users new to ADAS will have recently acquired a different vehicle, whether for personal use or for work. The primary method of education offered by manufacturers to new users is the owner’s manual, though additional information may be available from salespeople for new users who have purchased a vehicle from a dealership. The research team identified several challenges with learning about ADAS from an owner’s manual and other methods of education might be especially beneficial for this population.

The team’s review of educational materials also found most of the materials were aimed toward drivers as a general population. If educational or training materials are designed or evaluated as being effective for new users of ADAS, it is reasonable to expect that much of the content could be modified for other populations, such as drivers with a strong understanding of ADAS, who may not require comprehensive training.

4.3.2 ADAS Selection

The team chose to focus on ACC in Phase II of this project but designed the practitioner guidance to accommodate all ADAS currently available in production vehicles. ACC is widely available in passenger and commercial vehicles. The findings from Phase I confirmed that ACC educational content (purpose, functions, ODD, limitations, responsibilities) was presented in numerous sources from both the scientific literature review and the documentation of ADAS educational materials. Compared to the other ADAS, materials that covered ACC were most likely to also include procedural content, including information from non-manufacturer sources. On the other hand, a high proportion of the materials that covered ACC also contained questionable information that has the potential to mislead or misinform learners.

Recent survey results indicate that many people prefer to learn about ADAS via trial and error (e.g., Mason et al. 2023). However, this learning method may not be a good substitute for training or education. Carney and colleagues (2022) tracked ACC owners and found that after six months of experience with their

systems, their confidence in their understanding of ACC improved from baseline but not their understanding of ACC.

Collectively, the experts ranked ACC as the second most important for ADAS education, only slightly lower than ADA. Factors that influenced the experts’ selection of ACC included “complexity of the system,” “level of understanding required for appropriate use,” and “potential to misuse.” The selection of ACC offers the team the opportunity to identify education strategies for a complex system that requires an advanced understanding of operation and appropriate use. While ACC is not the most complex ADAS in production, using ACC to demonstrate the guidance to practitioners provides a foundation for developing materials that can be adapted for either more or less complex ADAS, and serves as a foundation for future education about ADA, of which ACC is a component. ACC training has been shown to improve drivers’ intention to use and accept higher levels of driving assistance (Zheng et al. 2023), suggesting that understanding how to use ACC can help ease the transition to using more complex ADAS.