Active Park Assist Draft Test Procedure Validation

Arquette, Tyler E.; Forkenbrock, Garrick J.; Fogle, Erin E. · 2021 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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Summary

This report validates the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) August 2019 draft test procedure for Active Park Assist (APA) systems. The research aimed to objectively assess the performance of APA technology, which automates steering, braking, throttle, and gear selection to assist drivers in parallel and perpendicular parking. The study was motivated by the need to update and refine the April 2018 draft procedure to improve clarity, ease of conduct, and general performability for evaluating light vehicles sold in the United States. The experimental design involved track testing three subject vehicles: a 2017 BMW 540i, a 2017 Tesla Model S 90D, and a 2018 Cadillac CT6. These vehicles were subjected to 13 distinct test scenarios, with five trials conducted per scenario. The scenarios evaluated four key areas: basic parking performance in perpendicular and parallel spaces; detection of an encroaching surrogate pedestrian; detection of an obstructing vehicle that blocks the parking path; and system response to manual driver overrides of steering, accelerator, or brake inputs. Testing utilized specific surrogate targets, including a static pedestrian mannequin and a guided soft target vehicle, alongside actual parked vehicles to define space boundaries. Data acquisition relied on GPS and inertial measurement systems to ensure precise tracking of vehicle positions and velocities. The results indicated varying levels of compliance across the tested vehicles. The BMW 540i met all testing criteria in 38 out of 65 trials, the Tesla Model S in 32 out of 55 trials, and the Cadillac CT6 in 25 out of 65 trials. The testing covered diverse operational challenges, such as the system's ability to stop automatically when a pedestrian entered the parking space or when a following vehicle obstructed the maneuver. Additionally, the study assessed whether the systems correctly terminated the parking maneuver when drivers manually intervened via steering or pedal inputs. The report details specific performance metrics, including time tolerances for completing maneuvers and spatial accuracy regarding final parking positions relative to adjacent obstacles. The study concludes that the August 2019 draft APA test procedure has the potential to effectively evaluate vehicles equipped with APA technology. By successfully executing the defined scenarios and collecting comprehensive performance data, the validation confirms the procedure's utility for research purposes. The findings provide a documented process for objectively assessing system operation and effectiveness, supporting NHTSA’s efforts to understand the safety performance of advanced driver assistance systems in real-world parking contexts.

Key finding

The validation testing verified that the August 2019 version of NHTSA’s draft APA test procedure has the potential to effectively evaluate vehicles equipped with APA technology.

Methodology

on_road

Sample size: 3

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

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• pedal misapplication