Researchers collaborate on best practices for automation research

Researchers from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have joined colleagues from academia and the automated vehicle and insurance industries in issuing a set of best practices for future evaluations of highly automated vehicles.

The recommendations, known as the Retrospective Automated Vehicle Evaluation (RAVE) checklist, emerged from a two-day working group meeting in January and are described in a new paper. Eric Teoh, IIHS director of statistical services, and David Kidd, IIHS senior research scientist, are two of the co-authors.

Fleets of highly automated vehicles without human drivers are currently in use in various locations, and researchers are eager to examine their safety in the real world. The RAVE checklist aims to help promote good scientific practices in this new field and to help readers evaluate the quality of studies.