[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 148 (Tuesday, August 5, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37618-37622]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-14748]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
[Docket No. NHTSA-2025-0056]
Agency Information Collection Activities; Notice and Request for
Comment; Driver Monitoring System (DMS) in SAE L2 Driver Support
Systems
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments on a new information
collection.
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SUMMARY: NHTSA invites public comments about the Agency's intention to
request approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a
new information collection request. Before a Federal agency can collect
certain information from the public, it must receive approval from OMB.
Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,
before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit public
comment on proposed collections of information, including extensions
and reinstatement of previously approved collections. This document
describes a collection of information request titled ``Driver
Monitoring System (DMS) in SAE L2 Driver Support Systems,'' for which
NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval to allow NHTSA to conduct a one-time
study.
DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before October 6, 2025.
[[Page 37619]]
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket No. NHTSA-
2025-0056 through any of the following methods:
Electronic submissions: Go to the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions
for submitting comments.
Fax: (202) 493-2251.
Mail or Hand Delivery: Docket Management, U.S. Department
of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-
140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except on Federal holidays. To be sure someone is there to help
you, please call (202) 366-9322 before coming.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and
docket number for this notice. Note that all comments received will be
posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading
below.
Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all
comments received into any of the Agency's dockets by the name of the
individual submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted
on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may
review DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register
published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78) or you may visit https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or the street
address listed above. Follow the online instructions for accessing the
dockets via internet.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For additional information or access
to background documents, contact Jeff Dressel, Office of Vehicle Safety
Research (NSR-310), (202)-493-0492, National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, W46-439, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), before an agency submits a proposed
collection of information to OMB for approval, it must first publish a
document in the Federal Register providing a 60-day comment period and
otherwise consult with members of the public and affected agencies
concerning each proposed collection of information. The OMB has
promulgated regulations describing what must be included in such a
document. Under OMB's regulation [at 5 CFR 1320.8(d)], an agency must
ask for public comment on the following: (a) whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the agency, including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of
the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) how to enhance
the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected;
and (d) how to minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submission of responses. In compliance with these requirements, NHTSA
asks for public comments on the following proposed collection of
information for which the agency is seeking approval from OMB.
Title: Driver Monitoring System (DMS) in SAE L2 Driver Support
Systems.
OMB Control Number: New.
Form Number(s): NHTSA Forms 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833, 1834, 1835,
1836, 1837, 1838, and 1839.
Type of Request: Approval of a new information collection request.
Type of Review Requested: Regular.
Requested Expiration Date of Approval: 3 years from date of
approval.
Summary of the Collection of Information: This information
collection request (ICR) is to request approval to conduct 14 new
voluntary information collections as part of a one-time research study
of drivers' interactions with SAE Level 2 (L2) systems (i.e., provide
longitudinal [adaptive cruise control] and lateral [lane centering]
control of the vehicle) equipped with driver monitoring systems (DMSs).
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the U.S.
Department of Transportation is seeking to conduct the research study
involving up to 264 licensed drivers aged 18 and above from Phoenix,
Arizona and across the US. There are two portions of the study: one
portion of the information collection will be from focus groups, and
the other portion of the information collection will be from on-road
driving with the L2 DMS. For the focus group portion of the study, the
information collections involve reporting and include (1) an
eligibility questionnaire to be administered to up to 500 potential
research respondents; (2) an informed consent form to be administered
to up to 192 research participants; and (3) a total of 12 virtual focus
group sessions with 12 respondents per focus group. For the on-road
portion, the information collections involve reporting and include (1)
an eligibility questionnaire to be administered to up to 500 potential
research respondents; (2) an informed consent form to be administered
to up to 160 research participants. The research participants will be
asked to complete the following type of information collection: (3) a
risky driving questionnaire; (4) a grip strength assessment; (5) eye
tracker calibration and setup; (6) a vehicle familiarization and
training briefing; (7) a planned drive; (8) a trust questionnaire; (9)
a system acceptance questionnaire; (10) a system understanding
questionnaire; and (11) a final debrief. Respondents are not required
to participate in this study; it is wholly voluntary. The collection is
considered a reporting collection using focus groups, multiple
questionnaires, a grip strength measurement, and one on-road in-study
drive. The selected respondents will be trained on one vehicle followed
by the in-study drive. The questionnaires will be administered upon
enrollment in the study, during the focus groups, prior to the in-study
drive, and upon completion of the study overall. Each of these
collection components will only be collected once and the full study
will only be completed once. The focus group portion of the data
collection will probe respondents' opinions via discussion and a
questionnaire regarding DMS features, capabilities, strengths/
weaknesses, uses/strategies that deviate from intended purposes,
reactions to human-machine interface (HMI) strategies, and changes in
their behavior associated with DMSs. For the on-road driving portion of
the study, respondents' naturalistic driving data will be collected in
the study-provided vehicles using GoPro cameras and a device to measure
where drivers are looking (eye tracker). The questionnaires will assess
respondents' risky driving behavior and system trust, acceptance, and
understanding.
NHTSA will use the information to produce a technical report that
will provide summary figures and tables, as well as the results of data
analysis of the information. No identifying information or individual
responses connected to identifiers will be reported. The technical
report will be shared across the Department of Transportation, and
members of the general public will have access to the aggregated
information
[[Page 37620]]
when the final report is published. The report may also be of interest
to vehicle manufacturers and component suppliers (e.g., developers of
DMSs). This project involves approval by an institutional review board,
which the contractor has obtained. This collection will be used to
identify how the DMS ensures active engagement when L2 automation is
activated, strengths and weaknesses of different DMS approaches and
mitigation strategies when driver behaviors deviate from the intended
purpose of the system, how DMSs are implemented to minimize misuse and
abuse, and how DMSs support compliant driver behaviors. For the focus
groups, the total annual burden is estimated to be 155 hours. For the
on-road portion of the study, the total annual burden is estimated to
be 163 hours.
Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use of the
Information: Vehicles equipped with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems
(ADAS) have the potential to greatly decrease crashes and save lives.
However, a safety concern with some such vehicles is the changing role
of the driver from being an active operator to being a passive
supervisor. With SAE International's definition of Level 2 (L2)
automated driving, acceleration, braking, and steering support features
are available to the driver; however, drivers are supposed to remain
alert, attentive, and engaged with the driving task and external
conditions at all times, but they do not always do so. Disengagement
from the active driving task can result in the potential loss of system
state information, environmental awareness, and driving context that is
available to an engaged driver (Campbell et al., 2018). Such a loss of
active engagement could lead to drivers becoming distracted with
secondary tasks, reducing the frequency of their glances at relevant
portions of the roadway, or even sleeping. Disengaged drivers pose a
safety concern because they may be unprepared to resume vehicle control
when needed, even though they are still responsible for taking over the
L2 Dynamic Driving Task (DDT) if the partial driving automation
functions cease (SAE J3016, 2021). This is not a theoretical problem,
as crashes and fatalities have already occurred in which driver
disengagement under L2 driving was a likely contributing factor.\1\
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\1\ E.g., see: `Inadequate Safety Culture' Contributed to Uber
Automated Test Vehicle Crash--NTSB Calls for Federal Review Process
for Automated Vehicle Testing on Public Roads'.
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In response to these concerns and incidents, automakers have
included driver monitoring systems (DMSs) as part of their L2
offerings. DMSs are part of a broader approach to attention management
and are designed to detect when the driver is disengaged from the
driving task while using L2 driving automation (Mueller et al., 2021).
Current implementations of L2 DMSs are designed to infer driver state
and include both vehicle (e.g., speed, road type) and trip-level data
(time of date, time on road, weather), as well as incorporate
strategies that provide more direct measures of driver state by
detecting whether or not the driver's hands are on the wheel, or
detecting (using cameras) whether or not the driver is attentive to the
roadway.\2\ Critically, assessing the efficacy of a particular approach
to implementing a DMS must be considered holistically with respect to
the larger L2 ecosystem, including considerations of the driving
environment and conditions under which L2 driving can take place,
design features of the L2 technology itself (including the HMI),
mitigation strategies if disengagement is detected, and known methods
that drivers use to circumvent the DMS.
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\2\ These L2 DMSs are distinct from DMSs that do not support L2
operation, and measure driver state (e.g., fatigue, drowsiness,
impairment) more generally.
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This data collection will directly support NHTSA's research efforts
regarding (1) DMS implementation strategies to ensure active engagement
by drivers, (2) DMS approaches to address driver behaviors that deviate
from the intended purpose of the system including misuse and abuse, and
(3) the relationships between the underlying L2 technology, the
supporting DMS technology and the HMI that is intended to aid and
encourage proper driving behavior and potentially discourage misuse or
abuse. If the proposed study is not conducted, NHTSA will have
unanswered questions regarding the interrelationships among the broader
L2/DMS/HMI ecosystem, and how well DMSs in SAE L2 implement distraction
detection strategies, detect unintended uses of the system, and are
efficacious under known use cases involving drivers trying to
circumvent the DMS.
Affected Public: For the focus group portion of the study, the
potential respondent universe is comprised of all residents of the
United States who are between the ages of 18 and 64 and for the on-road
driving portion of the study, the potential respondent universe is
comprised of study volunteers in the greater Phoenix, Arizona area who
are between the ages of 18 and 64.
Estimated Number of Respondents: For the focus group portion of the
study, the study anticipates screening 500 potential participants to
obtain the target sample of 144 research participants who meet study
inclusion criteria and fully participate in the study. While the goal
is 144 final participants, the research team will ensure eligibility
and interest of 192 participants to account for potential attrition.
However, while NHTSA estimates 500 potential research participants
screened and up to 192 in the research study, NHTSA's burden estimates
are based on the average number of respondents to each information
collection in each year of the three-year project. Accordingly, NHTSA
has estimated that, on average, there are 167 respondents to the
eligibility questionnaire (500 potential participants / 3 years) and 64
respondents to each of the other information collections (192 research
participants / 3 years) annually. As such, we anticipate conducting a
maximum of 500 individual eligibility interviews to recruit the
necessary participants for the information collection.
For the on-road driving portion of the study, the study anticipates
screening 500 potential participants to obtain the target sample of 120
research participants who meet study inclusion criteria and fully
participate in the study. While the goal is 120 final participants, the
research team will ensure eligibility and interest of 160 participants
to account for potential attrition. However, while NHTSA estimates 500
potential research participants screened, and up to 160 in the research
study, NHTSA's burden estimates are based on the average number of
respondents for each information collection in each year of the three-
year project. Accordingly, NHTSA has estimated that, on average, there
are 167 respondents to the eligibility questionnaire (500 potential
participants / 3 years) and 53 respondents to each of the other
information collections (160 research participants / 3 years) annually.
Frequency: This study is a one-time information collection.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: The estimated annual burden is
341 hours (155 hours for focus groups and 186 for on-road portion).
The estimated total burden is 946 hours (461 total hours for focus
groups and 485 total hours for on-road portion). As stated above, the
research team will ensure eligibility and interest of 192
[[Page 37621]]
participants for the focus groups portion of the study and 160
participants for the on-road portion of the study. This estimate
includes 125 hours for 500 potential participants to complete the
initial screening for the focus groups and the on-road driving portions
of the study. The burden estimate for the focus groups portion of the
study includes 32 hours for the consented participants and 304 hours
for the enrolled participants to complete all focus group study tasks.
The burden estimate for the on-road portion of the study includes 32
hours for the 160 consented participants and 328 hours for the enrolled
participants to complete all study tasks above and beyond the driving
they would normally complete during the naturalistic driving
observation periods. The on-road driving study tasks include a 12-
minute introduction procedure, a 10-minute questionnaire that assesses
the participants' risky driving behavior in the past 12 months, a 3-
minute assessment of the participants' grip strength, a 15-minute eye
tracker setup and calibration, a 10-minute vehicle familiarization and
training briefing, one 55-minute planned drive, an 8-minute
questionnaire addressing trust, an 8-minute acceptance questionnaire, a
10-minute system understanding questionnaire, and a 4-minute final
debriefing. The total burden is the sum of both the focus groups and
the on-road driving activities and includes screening, consenting, and
completing all of the focus groups and on-road driving activities for a
total estimate of 946 hours.
To calculate the opportunity cost to participants in this study,
NHTSA used the average (mean) hourly earnings from employers in all
industry sectors in the State of Arizona, which the Bureau of Labor
Statistics lists at $30.31 per hour.\3\ NHTSA estimates that the total
annual opportunity cost is approximately $9,540.46 ($4,660.42 for the
focus groups portion of the study, and $4880.04 for the on-road driving
portion of the study). The details are presented in Tables 1 through 4
below.
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\3\ US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor and Statistics, May
2023 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates Arizona:
https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm#00-0000.
Table 1--Total Study Burden Hours--Focus Groups
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Time per
Form No. Information Number of response Frequency of Total burden
collection respondents (minutes) response hours
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1830.......................... Eligibility 500 15 1 125
Questionnaire.
1831.......................... Informed Consent 192 10 1 32
1832.......................... Focus Group 192 85 1 272
Study.
N/A........................... Debriefing...... 192 10 1 32
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Total..................... ................ .............. .............. .............. 461
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Table 2--Annual Burden Estimates--Focus Groups
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Time per Opportunity Annual
Form No. Information Number of response cost per Frequency of Annual burden opportunity
collection respondents (minutes) response response hours costs
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1830.............................. Eligibility 167 15 $7.58 1 41.75 $1265.86
Questionnaire. 42
1831.............................. Informed Consent.... 64 10 5.05 1 10.67 323.20
11
1832.............................. Focus Group Study... 64 85 42.94 1 90.67 2,748.16
91
N/A............................... Debriefing.......... 64 10 5.05 1 10.67 323.20
11
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Annual Estimates.................................... .............. .............. .............. .............. 155 4,660.42
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Table 3--Total Study Burden Hours--On-Road Driving
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Time per
Form No. Information Number of response Frequency of Total burden
collection respondents (minutes) response hours
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1833.......................... Eligibility 500 15 1 125
Questionnaire.
1834.......................... Informed Consent 160 12 1 32
1835.......................... Perception of 160 10 1 26.67
Risk/Frequency
of Risky
Behavior
Questionnaire.
1836.......................... Grip Strength 160 3 1 8
Measurement.
N/A........................... Study Drive (Eye 160 80 1 213.33
Tracker Setup &
Calibration,
Vehicle
Familiarization/
Training, Study
Drive).
1837.......................... Trust in 160 8 1 21.33
Automated
Systems Scale.
1838.......................... Onboard 160 8 1 21.33
Monitoring
System
Acceptance
Survey.
1839.......................... System 160 10 1 26.67
Understanding
Questionnaire.
N/A........................... Debriefing...... 160 4 1 10.67
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Total..................... ................ .............. .............. .............. 485
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Table 4--Annual Burden Estimates--On-Road Driving
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Time per Opportunity Annual
Form No. Information Number of response cost per Frequency of Annual burden opportunity
collection respondents (minutes) response response hours costs
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1833.............................. Eligibility 167 15 $7.58 1 41.75 $1,265.86
Questionnaire. 42
1834.............................. Informed Consent.... 53 12 6.06 1 10.60 321.29
11
1835.............................. Perception of Risk/ 53 10 5.05 1 8.83 267.65
Frequency of Risky 9
Behavior
Questionnaire.
1836.............................. Grip Strength 53 3 1.52 1 2.65 80.56
Measurement. 3
N/A............................... Study Drive (Eye 53 80 40.41 1 93.63 2141.73
Tracker Setup & 94
Calibration.
Vehicle
Familiarization/
Training, Study
Drive.
1837.............................. Trust in Automated 53 8 4.04 1 7.06 214.12
Systems Scale. 7
1838.............................. Onboard Monitoring 53 8 4.04 1 7.06 214.12
System Acceptance 7
Survey.
1839.............................. System Understanding 53 10 5.05 1 8.83 267.65
Questionnaire. 9
N/A............................... Debriefing.......... 53 4 2.02 1 3.53 107.06
4
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Annual Estimates.................................... .............. .............. .............. .............. 186 4,880.04
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Cost: $0.
NHTSA estimates the annual burden cost to participants to be $0.
Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspects of
this information collection, including (a) whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of
the functions of the Department, including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Department's estimate
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (c) ways to
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter
35, as amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 1351.29A.
Cem Hatipoglu,
Associate Administrator, Vehicle Safety Research.
[FR Doc. 2025-14748 Filed 8-4-25; 8:45 am]
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