Driver training and testing in the era of automated driving: Status quo and future directions

The wait-and-see attitude from the past years seems to slowly disappear when it comes to licensing drivers of automated vehicles. Where it was previously believed that vehicle automation would make the driving task easier, it is now being recognized that it also introduces new tasks for which additional driver skills and knowledge are necessary. It is anticipated that driver training and testing need to be adapted. Although the topic is raised by many stakeholders, relatively few concrete research and policy activities can be found today. This paper presents the status quo and discusses future directions for driver training and testing with a focus on the Netherlands. Continue focusing on the overall impact of driver behaviour on safe and efficient participation in traffic, regardless of whether a driver uses vehicle automation, highly underestimates how much influence (also lower-level) vehicle automation has on the desired skills of a driver using such systems.