An Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study reveals that in-vehicle automated crash prevention systems may not detect pedestrians wearing high-visibility clothing and especially at night. The study tested three 2023 small SUV models, and two frequently hit a mannequin wearing reflective strips, while the Subaru Forester performed better but still collided once.

Automatic emergency braking in 2024 vehicles shows significant improvement, avoiding 100% of forward collisions at speeds up to 35 mph, according to AAA research. NHTSA in 2024 introduced a regulation requiring automakers to include AEB in vehicles by 2029.

Self-driving vehicles could debut on Texas roads after it emerged that Tesla has been in talks with officials in Austin about debuting its autonomous vehicle technology, per documents viewed by Bloomberg. The talks come after Tesla recently unveiled a prototype of its driverless Cybercab. "The city of Austin is obviously on our roadmap, but has not yet been decided where we will deploy first as we have many options available," an email seen by Bloomberg reads.

With the average age of vehicles in the US being 12.5 years, many cars on the road could be vulnerable when "Q-Day" arrives -- when quantum computers can decrypt standard methods. Car manufacturers are already taking steps to ensure quantum readiness by conducting cryptography inventories and working with suppliers.

Anonymized connected-car data supplied by General Motors to Jacobs Engineering Group has been a "game changer" in spotting trends and insights that help make roads safer and minimizes congestion, says the University of Purdue's Darcy Bullock. Despite the potential for good, some privacy experts are concerned, with Mozilla Foundation's Jen Caltrider noting, "Anonymized data is never anonymous, especially when location is included."

Technology to anonymize data from connected cars and trucks that trucking firms and General Motors have been collecting has proven valuable for traffic insights. Even so, privacy advocates still want assurances that the data is truly anonymous.

Goodyear has partnered with TNO to introduce smart tires embedded with sensors that detect slick road conditions, enhancing automatic emergency braking. The SightLine technology can prevent collisions even in rain, snow or ice, and Goodyear aims to pitch it to automakers as a safety system.

Ansys has partnered with Cognata and Microsoft to create a web-based platform for testing sensors being used in advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous vehicles. The platform uses Ansys' AVxcelerate Sensors simulation software to mimic real-world conditions, providing a virtual environment for testing on Microsoft Azure.

Nvidia's new Thor AGX chip which CEO Jensen Huang revealed at CES 2025 is the latest advancement in the company's AI technology aimed at autonomous vehicle development. Thor AGX boasts a twentyfold performance improvement over the Orin model, and Huang announced that Toyota will use it to develop its self-driving car systems.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's recently proposed voluntary national framework, the ADS-equipped Vehicle Safety, Transparency, and Evaluation Program, is aimed at easing the deployment of fully driverless vehicles, such as robotaxis. AV STEP would enable participants to demonstrate safety transparency by providing regular data, potentially reducing the need for special exemptions.

We are looking forward to welcoming all of you to our premier meeting of the year, where you get to hear from the leading experts in automotive safety and get to spend time building relationships with them during our 4-day event as well as network with the many ASC members. Join us at the Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa in Tucson, Ariz. Learn more.