On September 9^th as part of MADD’s 45^th Anniversary conference, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) announced an update to its Top Safety Pick+ rating system.

In the U.S., the IIHS Top Safety Picks help U.S. consumers make informed choices about safety when purchasing new or used vehicles. It works similar to New Car Assessment Programs, but the IIHS is an independent organization funded entirely by auto insurers. They have an extensive program where they crash cars and rate them based on crash worthiness and several other safety criteria.

Automakers selling vehicles in the U.S. work closely with IIHS to offer recommendations and comments for updating criteria. OEM’s take seriously IIHS recommendations and work to meet these standards. IIHS is an important voice in U.S. automotive safety community.

IIHS announced that by 2030 or sooner, it will add three new criteria for vehicles to be awarded a Top Safety Pick+.

• Intelligent Speed Assistance
• Driver Attention Systems
• Impairment Detection

The IIHS announcement is welcome news for advancing vehicle safety technology.  Seeing Machines has been working with IIHS to promote Driver Monitoring and Interior Sensing technology for the last several years. We have shared with them the benefits of DMS and emphasised European progress.

The announcement from IIHS is a great opportunity to advance safety in the U.S.  It encourages accelerated adoption of DMS because our systems can detect distraction (Driver Attention) now. Our recent announcement on alcohol impairment detection (Impairment Detection) will help ensure that these new safety features are included in a timely manner as part of the overall IIHS criteria.

Seeing Machines looks forward to continuing to work with safety partners like IIHS. We are confident in our technology and believe it can help to dramatically reduce instances of distraction, fatigue, and soon impairment on the roadways.

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