More than 40,000 people die on U.S. roadways every year. But increased adoption and use of advanced driver assistance systems such as forward collision warnings and lane-keeping assistance could save more than 8,000 lives annually, according to a new study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.


What You Need To Know

  • Advanced driver assistance systems could save 250,000 lives by 2050, according to a new study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

  • More than 42,000 people died on U.S. roadways in 2022, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  • ADAS are expected to provide significant safety benefits, but it will depend on consumer adoption and manufacturers evolving the technology

  • Technologies such as forward collision warnings are among a suite of technologies designed to automate certain driving tasks to help increase safety and avoid crashes

Between 2021 and 2050, the study estimates that ADAS technology could prevent as many as 250,000 deaths, 14 million injuries and 37 million crashes.

To come up with its estimates, the AAA Foundation partnered with the University of North Carolina to look at crashes that occurred between 2017 and 2019, before ADAS was widely available. Presuming the number of crashes would remain consistent in the coming years, the researchers then estimated the probability of ADAS preventing a crash from occurring based on the probability that vehicles will be equipped with the technology.

So-called advanced driver assistance systems, or ADAS, are designed to automate certain driving tasks, such as monitoring blind spots or automatically braking during emergencies, to help increase safety and avoid crashes. How well they work can vary, however. AAA’s own research has found they are not 100% reliable. A 2020 study of vehicles equipped with active driving assistance systems experienced some type of problem roughly every eight miles.

While AAA’s newest study found that advanced driver assistance systems are expected to provide significant safety benefits, exactly how significant those benefits will be depends on consumers’ interest in buying vehicles that incorporate the technology, whether or not they engage the technology and how quickly the technologies improve.