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Advanced Vehicle Technology

Where we stand: MADD supports the work of cooperative researchers to create voluntary advanced in-vehicle technology that prevents an impaired driver from operating the vehicle, provided the technology is non-intrusive to a sober driver.

When you think about how far technology has come from anti-theft sensors that can shut down the engine to a car that parallel parks itself, it’s highly conceivable that in 10 years cars will have alcohol sensors to stop drunk driving all together. MADD supports the development of this advanced technology.

  • A majority of Americans (67 percent) support advances in smart vehicle technology to prevent drivers from driving drunk. (IIHS, 2009)
  • In 2006, MADD, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Auto Alliance created the Blue Ribbon Panel on Advanced Alcohol Detection Technology.
  • The panel is a cooperative, voluntary, non-regulatory, data-driven research initiative formed to investigate and develop new technology that would allow a vehicle to recognize if a driver is drunk and to stop the driver from operating that vehicle.
MADD has partnered with leaders in the traffic safety and auto industries to further explore the possibilities of eliminating drunk driving through these four possible advanced vehicle technologies.
 
  1. Advanced breath testing – both individual testing and testing for alcohol in the vehicle
  2. Using visible light to measure BAC through spectroscopy
  3. Using non-invasive touch-based systems to measure BAC through the skin
  4. Eye-movement measurement technology, including involuntary eye movements related to BAC and eye closure that can indicate drowsiness
Visit the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety site, from the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety and NHTSA, to learn more about emerging in-vehicle technologies to prevent alcohol-impaired driving.
 
  • Benefits
    • An estimated 9,000 road traffic deaths could be prevented every year if alcohol detection devices were used in all vehicles to prevent alcohol-impaired drivers from driving their vehicles.
  • Feasibility and technical challenges        
    • Capable of rapidly and accurately determining and measuring alcohol in the blood, small, reliable, durable, repeatable, maintenance free and cost-effective.
  • Public policy challenges
    • To be acceptable for use among the general public, including those who do not drink and drive, alcohol detection technologies must not impede sober drivers from starting their vehicles.
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