Assessing the Impact of Disability on Drivers’ Equitable Use of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS): A Literature Review

The growing prevalence of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) in the U.S. passenger fleet promises increased mobility and enhanced safety outcomes for all drivers, but particularly for disabled drivers, a group that comprises 11.9% of the driving population (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021). For ADAS to realize their full potential, stakeholders need to consider the difficulties associated with ADAS use by disabled drivers as well as the potential benefits. To support this reckoning, the authors reviewed the extant literature to discover emerging themes and to identify gaps in the literature. We then synthesized these results into a proposed road map for future work that addresses the challenges of using ADAS to enhance mobility and improve safety for all drivers, including those who are disabled.

Our review of the literature reveals gaps that point the way forward for further work that will support the optimal implementation of ADAS to compensate for disability-induced driving performance deficits. Specifically, our gap analysis and research road map suggest that this work should begin with using subjective methodologies (e.g., focus groups, interviews, and surveys) to learn from the disabled driver community in a manner that centers these individuals. Such research should yield results that more authentically capture the experience (or lack thereof) of disabled individuals driving with and making use of ADAS. Additionally, longitudinal research is necessary to support extended observation of real-world ADAS use by disabled drivers across driving environments and their disability-related functional states, which are often transient