A new study undertaken by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has revealed that advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are capable of bringing significant decline in the number, cost and severity of automotive accidents.

Entitled ‘A Roadmap to Safer Driving Through Advanced Driver Assistance Systems,’ the report claims that ADAS is likely to prevent 28% of all crashes in the US, saving approximately 9,900 lives and about $251bn each year.

According to US Government estimates, the automotive accidents lead to death of 33,000 people each year, causing 3.9 million injuries and damaging 24 million vehicles, totalling $910bn in losses to society annually, which is equivalent to roughly 6% of GDP.

"Because the vast majority of crashes in the US are caused by driver error, the lack of adoption of these technologies within the US fleet is a significant missed opportunity."

BCG North America Automotive practice leader and the study co-author Xavier Mosquet said: "Because the vast majority of crashes in the US are caused by driver error, the lack of adoption of these technologies within the US fleet is a significant missed opportunity.

"This is especially true considering that ADAS technologies also pave the way for partially and fully autonomous vehicles, which could further reduce crashes – and their cost to society – by 90% or more."

Commissioned by the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, the study focused on the seven ADAS features and feature combinations that are most prevalent in the US market, including forward collision warning/assist/adaptive cruise control, blind spot detection, night vision, lane departure warning/lane keep assist, adaptive front lighting, surround view and park assist features.

Despite their potential safety benefits and cost savings, vehicle owners are found to be reluctant in adopting ADAS features due to their unwillingness to pay as much for them as they cost to make and market, lack of awareness of the features, insufficient explanation of the features at the point of sale, and due to unavailability of some features.

Noting that the technologies bring more than $16,000 in savings to a vehicle over its expected 20-year life, the report claimed that market penetration of these technologies is growing between 2% and 5% annually.

BCG has called on major stakeholders in these technologies to undertake consumer education and marketing campaigns, offer incentives or credits on purchases, and also regulate and include ADAS features in the criteria for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s five-star safety ratings.