As vehicles become increasingly equipped with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), the role of drivers is evolving significantly. To help the community understand and fully utilise these technologies, Austroads has undertaken important work to create and update a suite of guidance materials.
Previous work by Austroads has identified that education, training and assessment of drivers have not evolved to accommodate the changing needs of drivers of ADAS vehicles. Evidence also suggests a lack of understanding of the capabilities of ADAS can result in driver overreliance in some circumstances and may delay uptake of safety enhancing features.
In 2022, Austroads released two essential guides on ADAS:
- The Driver Testing Guideline: This guide details common ADAS functions, their operational characteristics, and limitations. It is intended to assist licensing regulators and driver assessors in adapting to the increased presence of ADAS in vehicles. It may also be useful for learner drivers and those supervising driving practice, such as parents and instructors. Importantly, regardless of the ADAS in use during testing, drivers must still demonstrate safe vehicle operation and situational awareness.
- The Driver Education Guideline: This guide offers a neutral, brand-agnostic overview of common ADAS functions in Australian vehicles. It provides operational descriptions, examines road safety benefits, and highlights any limitations. Additionally, a high-level Communications Framework was developed to guide how this information could enhance driver understanding of ADAS functions and their safety advantages.
The current project SRL6414 aims to formalise these efforts with several key objectives:
- Develop materials and platforms to facilitate easy access to, and maintenance of, ADAS information and resources.
- Develop a communications strategy to raise widespread awareness of the potential road safety benefits, operation and limitations of ADAS functions.
- Effectively engage internal and external stakeholders.
- Develop and implement systems and processes for review, monitoring and maintaining the communications platforms and collateral.
Austroads is working with an experienced communications agency to develop an overarching communications strategy and oversee the design and development of platforms and educational materials, which are scheduled for launch in 2025.
