Behavioural Response to Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS): A Naturalistic Data Comparison Between Vietnam and Belgium

Abstract

Road safety progress has stalled in many high-income countries, prompting interest in the use of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) as a potential solution. However, limited evidence exists on real-world, long-term and crosscountry impacts of ADAS. This study addresses these gaps through a naturalistic field trial in Belgium and Vietnam, focusing on driver behaviour across three driving-task specific domains: road sharing, speed management, and vehicle control. Eighteen Belgian drivers and fourteen Vietnamese drivers participated in a three-stage field driving experiment: baseline (no ADAS for three weeks), treatment (ADAS active for six weeks), and post-treatment (ADAS deactivated for three weeks). Risky driving behaviour events were collected, normalised per 100km and analysed separately for the two countries using a within-subject design. The findings suggest that the activation of ADAS results in safer driving behaviours, although the outcomes varied between countries and types of behaviour. Once ADAS was deactivated, many drivers reverted to their previous habits, lending support to the washout effect hypothesis. The study shows the importance of promoting the sustained use of ADAS and the need to tailor system designs to accommodate different cultural and traffic contexts. Abstract Road safety progress has stalled in many high-income countries, prompting interest in the use of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) as a potential solution. However, limited evidence exists on real-world, long-term and crosscountry impacts of ADAS. This study addresses these gaps through a naturalistic field trial in Belgium and Vietnam, focusing on driver behaviour across three driving-task specific domains: road sharing, speed management, and vehicle control. Eighteen Belgian drivers and fourteen Vietnamese drivers participated in a three-stage field driving experiment: baseline (no ADAS for three weeks), treatment (ADAS active for six weeks), and post-treatment (ADAS deactivated for three weeks). Risky driving behaviour events were collected, normalised per 100km and analysed separately for the two countries using a within-subject design. The findings suggest that the activation of ADAS results in safer driving behaviours, although the outcomes varied between countries and types of behaviour. Once ADAS was deactivated, many drivers reverted to their previous habits, lending support to the washout effect hypothesis. The study shows the importance of promoting the sustained use of ADAS and the need to tailor system designs to accommodate different cultural and traffic contexts.