New Car Assessment Program

Michael Kelley, Policy Director for Missourians for Responsible Transportation (MRT), supports the proposed rule to add rear automatic braking (RAB) systems with pedestrian avoidance to the New Car Assessment Program. He also requests that the rule include testing for dark/inclement weather conditions and specific bicycle speeds to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety.

The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) supports the proposed inclusion of rear automatic braking (RAB) systems with pedestrian avoidance ability in the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). They advocate for additional testing requirements, including dark and inclement weather conditions, testing effectiveness on a broader range of skin tones, and the inclusion of bicycle speeds in the test scenarios.

The commenter supports the inclusion of Rear Automatic Braking (RAB) with pedestrian detection in the New Car Assessment Program but argues that the current single-trial testing protocol lacks statistical rigor. They recommend a multi-trial sampling design and the inclusion of specificity controls to better measure system reliability and account for false positives.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) supports the inclusion of rear automatic braking systems in the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) to prevent backover crashes. They provide specific recommendations to improve the representativeness and repeatability of the testing procedures, including mannequin selection, lighting conditions, and scoring methodologies.