About
Dr. Daniel McGehee is the director of the Driving Safety Research Institute (DSRI) and a professor in the department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Iowa. He has been doing automated driving and automotive human factors research and application for over 25 years. He was principal investigator of the MyCarDoesWhat campaign that educated consumers on Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. The campaign has garnered over 5.5. billion media impressions. He is also PI of the recently announced ADS for rural America project — a $7 million grant to examine rural issues in automated driving.
PAVE: How does your experience at the Driving Safety Research Institute align with the PAVE mission to educate the public on AV technology and its promise?
Our mission at DSRI is to eliminate car crashes. AV technology show promise to do that if it is carefully implemented. Our work in ADAS and AV for over 25 years has led us to appreciate that consumer education is key to the successful rollout of ADS.
PAVE: What are current barriers you see in public acceptance of automated vehicles?
The motoring public will have to experience these technologies first-hand before they will see the benefits. Along the way, industry will need to be highly engaged in safety. And when things go wrong, a thorough and transparent crash analysis should be done. Reasonable safety standards should also be implemented to avoid the Wild West syndrome.
