Weigh in on advanced driver assistance systems, OOIDA says

October 22, 2021

Land Line Staff

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The industry needs guidance on advanced driver assistance systems from actual truckers. That’s why the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is asking its more than 150,000 members to participate in a survey on the topic.

The OOIDA Foundation has been working with the American Transportation Research Institute to gather the perspectives and concerns of drivers, owner-operators and small motor carriers about advanced driver assistance systems.

“Up to this point, no previous research has included the opinion of actual truckers,” OOIDA wrote. “This is your chance to effectively shape FMCSA’s view on advanced driver assistance systems going forward.”

The survey, which should take about 10 minutes to complete, is due Nov. 1.

Last year, FMCSA initiated the program Tech-Celerate Now as a national outreach campaign focused on advanced driver assistance system technologies. The OOIDA Foundation has participated in the program, representing the voice of drivers. To do so effectively, the OOIDA Foundation wants feedback from its members so it can relay the information to FMCSA.

The survey will give truckers the opportunity to provide feedback on the usefulness or lack thereof for such technologies as automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warnings, adaptive steering control, blind spot warnings, and driver-facing cameras.

OOIDA has been critical of any efforts to move these kinds of technology forward before they are perfected.

“We’re trying to make members of the Senate and House understand that if they ultimately want to have automatic emergency braking technology on every truck on the road, then they need to do the work to ensure that the technology is reliable and that it works effectively before they put the cart before the horse,” Collin Long, OOIDA’s director of government affairs, told Land Line Now over the summer. “There is a reasonable way to do this, and taking into account the views of truckers should be a key element to that. Because they are the ones who are going to be using it, and they are the ones who are most commonly going to experience the problems.” LL