PARTS
Partnership for Analytics Research in Traffic Safety
Overview
PARTS, short for Partnership for Analytics Research in Traffic Safety, is a partnership between automakers and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in which participants voluntarily share safety-related data for collaborative safety analysis. The goal of this government-industry initiative, which is operated by an independent third party, is to gain real-world insights into the safety benefits and opportunities of emerging advanced driver assistance systems — and one day automated driving systems.
Automatic Emergency Braking
Latest Study Finds Systems Improving Over Time
In January 2025, PARTS released results of its second study — the largest government-automaker study to date about the real-world effectiveness of advanced driver assistance systems in passenger vehicles. The study showed automatic emergency braking continues to improve as it cuts rear-end crashes in half. The study also found a 9% reduction in single-vehicle frontal crashes with non-motorists for vehicles equipped with pedestrian automatic emergency braking systems.
By the Numbers
This latest study follows PARTS' initial study and more than doubled the number of vehicle models included, and added three additional vehicle segments, three additional states, and three new model years. In this new study, automobile manufacturers submitted vehicle data for approximately 98 million vehicles — 168 different vehicle models from 2015 to 2023 were included. In addition, NHTSA supplied data for more than 21.1 million police-reported crashes to facilitate analysis. The MITRE Corporation, an independent and not-for-profit organization, linked and analyzed the data sources. After linking the crash data with vehicle data that auto manufacturers supplied, more than 2.1 million crash-involved vehicles were relevant to the ADAS features and part of the analysis.
Mission & Vision
Improve traffic safety in an enduring data-sharing partnership by generating unique analytic results that inform action.
Be an authoritative source for real-world, data-driven traffic safety information.
Partnership
The following automakers, which account for approximately 80% of the U.S. passenger vehicle market, were part of the second study.
- American Honda Motor Company
- Ford Motor Company
- General Motors
- Hyundai Motor North America
- Mazda North American Operations
- Mitsubishi Motors R&D of America
- Stellantis
- Subaru Corporation
- Toyota Motor North America
MITRE provides participating automakers with aggregated, anonymized results they can use to assess the overall effectiveness of ADAS systems and benchmark their own vehicles against the overall aggregate average.
What's Next
PARTS partners plan to further collaborate on research efforts, both expanding this analysis as ADAS deployment increases and exploring new research areas. Future studies will include data from Kia, the newest PARTS member.
More Information
- News Release: Largest Automatic Emergency Braking Study Finds Systems Improving Over Time
- News Release: Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Continue to Expand, New Report Shows
- News Release: Largest Government-Automaker Study Shows FCW and AEB Reduce Front-to-Rear Crashes by 50%
- New Release: PARTS Expands
- Video: Learn About PARTS
- Video: PARTS at SAE 2021
- Presentation: PARTS at SAE 2019
FAQs
Why did PARTS form?
With today’s speed of innovation, NHTSA recognized the urgency to create new, dynamic approaches for learning more about how to improve safety and reduce the risk of vehicle crashes in real-world environments.
Who can join PARTS?
Currently, all automobile manufacturers can join PARTS. In the future, additional types of stakeholders will be included as the scope of work expands and the partnership matures.
What crashes are included?
NHTSA has provided data on police-reported crashes from 15 states: Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. In addition, Michigan provides police-reported crash data to MITRE for inclusion in the study. Additional crash data will be included in the future.
Is PARTS a voluntary partnership?
Yes, participation in the PARTS prototype is voluntary. Partners may choose to end participation at any time.
Is PARTS similar to the FAA’s data-sharing partnership?
PARTS was formed based on the successful model of the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) program. Since 2007, the FAA, the aviation industry, and an independent third party (The MITRE Corporation) have been collaborating to improve aviation safety through the program. ASIAS is a public-private partnership whose mission is to share critical information and proactively analyze aviation safety data to discover common, systemic problems, and to inform mitigations. The participants have learned how important it is to create a proactive safety culture where regulators and regulated entities work together within an atmosphere of trust. While the aviation and auto industries are different, NHTSA and automotive stakeholders believed they could adapt ASIAS to meet the unique needs of the auto industry. In 2017, a group of automobile manufacturers joined NHTSA and MITRE to begin exploring how the aviation program might be adapted for automotive transportation. In 2018, PARTS was formed.
How are decisions made on the objective and scope of PARTS analyses?
PARTS Governance Board’s decision-making process is consensus-based, meaning there must be agreement by all PARTS participants before PARTS moves forward with a decision or action. All PARTS participants, whether public or private, are peers, with decisions made by consensus for purposes of the partnership and each PARTS participant receiving one vote.
Does PARTS share the results of their studies?
Yes, the partnership released several reports that are available in the Reports section of this webpage.
How is PARTS funded and what does it cost to participate?
At the current time, PARTS is 100% funded by USDOT and no contribution of funds is required for an OEM to join PARTS. The funding model may change as the partnership matures.
What is the role of the independent third party?
The role of the independent third party is three-fold: 1) act as the independent convener and program integrator/manager; 2) act as the data steward, providing the secure data environment and infrastructure to protect and manage partner data and results; and 3) lead the technical analytic work, to include ingesting sensitive data from partners, processing it, conducting neutral and unbiased analysis, and providing results in a safe and secure manner.
The MITRE Corporation serves as the independent third party for PARTS. MITRE is a private, non-profit organization that operates Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and an independent research program that help government agencies, along with industry, address critical national and global challenges, including those around transportation safety.
What is the role of OEM partners?
Participating OEMs actively shape the direction of the partnership, to include identifying and scoping safety research studies and other projects. OEMs partners contribute data as well as staff time and expertise to assist in the use and interpretation of their data to support analysis. In addition, OEM partners participate in the exploration of new ideas, including proofs of concepts and prototyping, to help inform partnership decisions related to future safety research.
What is the role of USDOT and NHTSA?
USDOT, which NHTSA is part of, funds the partnership and works alongside industry participants to oversee and direct the work of PARTS as part of the PARTS Governance Board, including as co-chair. USDOT’s participation does not provide it with any special decision-making authority during the execution of PARTS. All decisions are made by consensus of the PARTS Governance Board, and NHTSA serves as one voting member on the PARTS Governance Board. The roles of NHTSA and OEMs are of peers within the partnership – each has an equal voice in the strategy, processes and procedures, and overall execution of the partnership.
If you would like to learn more about PARTS or for information on joining the partnership, email PARTS@mitre.org.
