Advanced Vehicle Technology (AVT) Consortium

The Advanced Vehicle Technology (AVT) Consortium, launched in 2015 within MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics and MIT AgeLab. The AVT Consortium is a global academic-industry collaboration aiming to develop a data-driven understanding of how drivers across the lifespan use and respond to various vehicle technologies—looking in-depth at system performance and the effects on driving behavior, as well as consumer attitudes. The consortium is both a research endeavor and a community. Its datasets—collected by MIT researchers from real drivers in the real world—are among the largest of this kind. The AVT Consortium brings together stakeholders across the automotive, technology, and insurance industries along with consumer-focused research organizations to provide analysis, insights, and a forum for discussion. The consortium and its members are working toward a better understanding of the challenges that today’s drivers experience, as well as the related opportunities to promote better system design and user experience that enhance safety, convenience and comfort in a rapidly evolving mobility landscape.

Major research themes include:
(*) Assistive/automated driving support
(*) Non-driving related activities and distractions
(*) Human-centered considerations in user engagement
(*) Safety of vulnerable road users
(*) Driving behavior across technologies and context
(*) Consumer attitudes and understanding of new technologies
(*) The electric vehicle experience