Public has 'safety concerns' over Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

The public is not aware of the reality of road safety: 92% of one sample reported an estimate well below the official figure. How can we reconcile this deprioritisation of road safety in the general transport system with the fixation on high safety standards for AVs?

New research from DG Cities has uncovered a significant trust gap in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) that could undermine the UK's transition to autonomous vehicles (AVs). The findings suggest there is widespread confusion about the capabilities and limitations of ADAS systems, creating safety concerns and eroding public confidence.

• 40% of drivers report insufficient information about Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) at the point of purchase.

• Investigation found dealership sales agents exaggerating ADAS capabilities.

• Two-thirds of UK public want independent regulator oversight of autonomous vehicle safety, not manufacturer self-certification.

• People who feel positively towards ADAS are almost twice as likely to use Autonomous Vehicles.

• Industry experts suggest improvements in testing, regulation and public communication will improve road safety and accelerate AV readiness.

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Hear from the UK's Vision Zero and road danger reduction pioneers at the National Vision Zero & 20's Plenty Conference on 15 May, Liverpool

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"If people don't understand or trust ADAS today, we cannot expect them to embrace autonomous vehicles tomorrow," said Balazs Csuvar, Director of Innovation & Net Zero at DG Cities. "ADAS technologies are the stepping stones to full autonomy. The UK’s transition to a self-driving future relies on building public trust and confidence in these systems. Government and regulators need to act now to remove this critical barrier to AV adoption."

ADAS technologies, such as Emergency Lane Keep Assist, Autonomous Emergency Braking, and Intelligent Speed Assist, are already commonplace and became mandatory in new vehicles in the EU in July 2024 under the updated General Safety Regulation (GSR2). However, the UK has yet to adopt GSR2, leaving oversight and standardisation lagging.

Public not aware of the reality of road safety

In 2023, says DG Cities, the Department for Transport puts the number of people who were killed or seriously injured (KSIs) on UK roads at a sobering 29,711, with vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists disproportionately affected. 

A major contributing factor in these incidents is human error: it is estimated that 88% of road traffic accidents in the UK are caused by human error, including behaviours like speeding, distraction from mobile phones, running red lights or failing to give way.

In light of these numbers, it may come as a surprise that a survey study DG Cities conducted in December 2024 indicates that many do not consider improving road safety a priority: when we asked a representative sample of 1,000 UK respondents to select their top two priorities for the UK transport system, only 37% chose road safety; a low proportion compared to the 53% who chose affordability and the 46% who chose nationwide equality. 

One possible reason for this is that the above statistics are not, in fact, common knowledge: when asked to guess the number of KSIs on UK roads in 2023, a staggering 92% of our sample reported an estimate below the official figure and the average estimate only came to 11,402 – less than half of the official figure. In other words, road safety may not be at the forefront of public concern because, quite simply, many are not aware of the scale of the problem.

Public confusion and lack of trust in ADAS

New research based on a representative UK survey by DG Cities reveals that while 70% of ADAS users appreciate the benefits, over 40% feel they were not given enough information about the systems at the point of purchase. This leads to dissatisfaction with ADAS features and impacts the accelerated adoption of AVs in the future. The data suggests that people who use ADAS features and feel positively towards them are almost twice as likely to use AVs as those who do not use or do not like them.

A mystery shopping investigation found that UK dealership sales agents often lacked knowledge about ADAS features, or even exaggerated their capabilities, leading to confusion and potential safety risks.

"It is estimated that there will be a 30% reduction in crashes once all vehicles have ADAS features[1], which is very encouraging news," Csuvar continues. "But this safety benefit could be undermined if drivers don't understand how to use these systems properly, or when the systems themselves aren't thoroughly tested against real-world scenarios."

Public support of AVs hinges on safety

DG Cities research shows that over half the UK public want an independent regulator or government entity to oversee AV safety, with only 30% trusting manufacturers to self-assess. The Automated Vehicles Act 2024 introduces the concept of AVs meeting the standard of a ‘careful and competent human driver, ’ but public confidence will depend on clear, evidence-based assurances of safety.

The research finds that reducing serious injuries and fatalities is a very effective way to boost public support. Notably, when participants were asked if they would support widespread AV adoption on the condition that it reduced the number or severity of serious injuries and fatalities by just 5% from current levels, support increased from under half to nearly three-quarters.

DeepSafe calls for better testing, regulation and communication

The research by DG Cities has been conducted as part of DeepSafe, a consortium-led project aiming to advance the commercialisation and deployment of self-driving vehicles. It is made up of transport and technology specialists, including DG Cities, dRisk.ai, Imperial College London, Claytex and rFpro. The research was funded by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) via Innovate UK.

The consortium has integrated cutting-edge technologies to create test and development tools for automated vehicle technologies. These tools have been used to suggest new test protocols and build an extensive virtual library of edge case scenarios to subject ADAS and AV systems to. They found that testing on edge-cases using these methods has the potential of increasing the safety of AVs sixfold compared to some traditional methods used in the industry. 

Based on the technical findings combined with the research on consumer attitudes, the consortium urges the UK government to take immediate action by:

• Developing comprehensive ADAS testing protocols to ensure safety before AVs are deployed.

• Expanding testing to include edge cases, particularly those faced by emergency services.

• Improving public communication with clear, open messaging about what ADAS and AVs can and cannot do.

• Involving the public in shaping standards to increase trust and transparency.