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How does a giant teddy bear help in studying highway safety?

Answer: By testing driver awareness.

a giant teddy bear hanging out of a car window
Shutterstock/Ja Crispy
Ever since cars started getting advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), there have been many questions about whether they lead drivers to be less attentive while on the road, because the car is doing more of the work. The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) enlisted the help of a rather peculiar tool to try and answer some of these questions: a giant pink teddy bear.

For their study, IIHS recruited 31 participants and had them drive a 2019 Mercedes C300 on Interstate 7 in Maryland for approximately an hour. The drivers were divided into three groups. One group had no experience with an ADAS system, and they did not drive with the C300’s Level 2 assist system engaged during the test. The second group also had no experience with a Level 2 ADAS, but they drove with it turned on during the test. The third group of drivers were experienced with an ADAS system, meaning they reported using one about four days a week, and they also drove with it turned on for the test.

Now, this is where the teddy bear comes in. At three predetermined points on the route, unknown to the driver, another car would overtake them. And strapped to the back of that car in a neon yellow high-visibility vest was the largest pink teddy bear you’ve probably ever seen.  

At the end of the drive, all the participants were asked if they had noticed the bear. The results suggest that there is a learning curve with the ADAS system, but that once you get over that you could find yourself more aware of your surroundings than before. The drivers who had experience with the system and drove with it engaged were the most likely of all the groups to notice the bear, while the drivers with no experience but who still used the system noticed it the least. The drivers with no experience with the system and who didn’t use it for the test noticed the bear more often than their counterparts who used the system, but they didn’t report noticing it as often as the drivers who were familiar with using the system.

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