New Tech Educational Outreach

Abstract

The impacts of transportation on human health and safety may be addressed at least in part by new vehicle technologies such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and electric vehicles (EVs). To reap the safety and health benefits of these technologies and overcome barriers to adoption, the driving public needs to understand the benefits of these technologies, their limitations, and how to properly use them. One way to address barriers to proper use and adoption of these new vehicle technologies is through educational outreach. The objectives of this project were to gather information and materials from current EV educational outreach efforts and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA’s) ADAS educational outreach program to inform the development of a New Tech Outreach (NTO) educational outreach program and to identify potential partners for a future effort. The approach to conducting the project involved two steps. As a first step, the project team reviewed materials from NHTSA’s ADAS educational campaign among others and conducted a scan of current literature on EV educational outreach. The second step was reviewing three EV educational outreach programs being conducted by public-facing organizations to include as examples of how to conduct EV educational outreach. As part of the program review, the project team reviewed program websites and key reports, attended events, and interviewed a program lead from each program. Interviews, which were conducted between May 1 and November 14, 2024, covered a range of topics including program goals, target audiences, topics, approaches, funding, partnerships, implementation barriers, and lessons learned. Each interview also explored future opportunities for collaboration and partnership not only with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) but for the types of organizations represented by the National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence. A set of key takeaways was identified, including potential partnership opportunities. The key takeaways are not an exhaustive list of everything reviewed or generalizable findings on this topic; rather, they are meant to serve as a summary of what the project team considers to be potential inputs to the design of a future NTO program. Throughout the takeaway discussion, resources that the project team may use or reference in a future NTO program are highlighted. In addition, an important aspect of this project is how VTTI can partner with organizations such as those included here in a future NTO program. Working with universities in general and VTTI specifically was discussed during each program review, and numerous suggestions were made for how such collaboration can occur in the future. As a next step, the report concludes with a suggestion and basic outline for an NTO pilot project.