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Autonomous Vehicle Disengagement Reports have been published by the California Department of Motor Vehicles since 2015. The State of California autonomous vehicle testing regulations require every manufacturer authorized to test autonomous vehicles on public roads to submit an annual report summarizing disengagements. In early versions of the annual report, automated vehicle manufacturers were required to provide the time that it took for a human driver to take manual control of the vehicle when reporting vehicle disengagements. This study analyzes reported automated vehicle disengagement reaction times from 2015 through 2017 for various manufacturers that provided information to the California Department of Motor Vehicles while operating vehicles in autonomous mode. This study compares the reported automated vehicle operation disengagement reaction time to field literature in testing and experimentation on human brake reaction times for both automobile and motorcycle operation.

The documented availability of electronic stability control (ESC) systems on passenger vehicles is useful in understanding the integration of ESC technology into the North American automobile market. Unfortunately, the sources that document ESC system availability are not always consistent with each other and many show discrepancies with information from the manufacturers. In this study, the history of the implementation of ESC systems in passenger vehicles is reported based on information combined from several different organizations including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Ward's Auto World, and Consumers Reports. Where discrepancies exist between these different sources of data, clarification was gained through further research of information available from the manufacturer, including corporate press releases, owner manuals, and vehicle brochures.