Until recently, awareness surrounding the importance of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) remained limited to the greater automotive industry—but that’s changing rapidly. 

Industry safety leaders, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), are revising their safety rating systems to require ADAS performance. These rating systems play a key role in consumer-focused publications such as Kelly Blue Book and Consumer Reports.

Meanwhile, news and media outlets, such as the award-winning Advancements, hosted by Ted Danson, are casting a spotlight on the importance of these safety systems. 

As consumers become aware of how ADAS is key to saving lives, these technologies will increasingly become a differentiator among automotive manufacturers and even collision repairers. 

Data from Protech Automotive Solutions, a trusted leader for ADAS calibrations and automotive technology, shows that required post-repair ADAS calibrations have dramatically exceeded previous projections. 

While previously the industry believed that 2026 would end with around 65% of repairs requiring calibration, the Protech ADAS ID3 tool now shows that we are already at 65% as we enter 2026. 

The NHTSA has announced that it will be testing advanced ADAS performance as part of its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), beginning with vehicles model year 2027. This program is how the NHTSA determines its Five-Star Safety Rating. In addition, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), has also announced that it will be updating the criterial for the organization's Top Safety Picks endorsement. 

These two endorsements are key to automotive manufacturer differentiation, and so the industry may expect to see dramatic changes in the number of cameras, sensors and types of ADAS technology on vehicles, potentially beginning with model year 2027. 

In the US, automotive safety regulation is determined by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, or FMVSS, but in the European Union (EU) these requirements are called General Safety Regulations, or GSR. 

Beginning in July 2026, the GRS2 enters phase 3, with requirements for Advanced Driver Distraction Warnings (ADDW), advanced Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) and Pedestrian (and cyclist) Automatic Emergency Braking (PAEB), Lane Keeping Assistance (LKA), Blind Spot Information (BSI)—referred to as Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) in the US, and more. 

While these requirements are limited to the EU, automotive manufacturers will be innovating to meet European regulations, which may accelerate their standardization in the US as well. 

For the first time in generations, the American public now sees the skilled trades as an equal or superior path to individual career success than a traditional 4-year college education, while support for apprenticeship programs continues to grow, according to data provided by surveys from industry leaders such as the American Staffing Association, LaborStrong, and Jobs for the Future.

And while the previous administration supported tech-forward apprenticeship programs, the current administration is expanding support for apprenticeships in the skilled trades. At Caliber Insights, we believe that this shift in public opinion combined with Federal support and increased exposure to trade apprenticeship will help redefine the future of how American develops its workforce.

The automotive glass repair and insurance industries may be at the precipice of dramatic change. The majority of vehicles model year 2019 and newer have windshield-mounted cameras and/or sensors, which must be recalibrated after a windshield replacement. The expense of these ADAS calibrations is driving costs of windshield replacements ever higher, and customers will be searching for solutions to cover these repairs—not just for collision claims, but for comprehensive coverage as well. 

Both industries may boost customer satisfaction and trust by suggesting flexible payment options, including comprehensive glass coverage and/or financing. 

Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) became standard on over 95% of all vehicles sold in the USA, model year 2023 and later. Based on our repair data, Caliber's estimatics team expects 2023 to be the average model year of repairable vehicles by 2031, if not sooner. When that happens, we can expect that over 95% of collision repair orders will have one or more mandated ADAS calibrations. 

With changes in the adoption of ADAS technology, the timeline might actually accelerate and there are certainly no signs of deceleration.

In April of 2024, the NHTSA finalized FMVSS-127, a new regulation that—for the first time in the USA—focused on ADAS technology. This ruling, originally made effective in November of 2024, was delayed for more feedback from automotive manufacturers until March 2025 and then again until September 2025.

Despite these delays, the NHTSA has—so far—remained firm on it's original compliance timeline. If this remains unchanged, the majority of vehicles sold in the US will need to be compliant beginning September 1, 2029. This will impact most model 2030 vehicles and beyond. 

Jamie Shackleford, Vice President of Caliber Marketing, shares an overview of how FMVSS 127 may impact collision repair and automotive glass replacement. 

Commercial Fleet make up a greater contingent of automotive technology early adopters of than private vehicle owners. The majority of these technologies, including those that are key for autonomous vehicles, are dependent on ADAS. Additionally, commercial drivers face increased scrutiny, when compared to other drivers—meaning that it is even more crucial that safety systems perform optimally on Fleet vehicles. At Caliber Fleet Solutions, we believe that vertical integration between collision repair, automotive glass, EV repair and service, ADAS calibration and more, is key for Fleet Service differentiation.

Robotaxis are vehicles available for passenger hire, in which the vehicle is driven either fully autonomously or with limited remote oversight from human operators.

The first commercial Robotaxi service launched in Phoenix, AZ in October of 2020. As of the close of 2025, the industry saw “Robotaxi” service expand to 7 major metropolitan areas in 6 states. A further 9 metro areas in 6 new states have been announced for 2026, while an even greater number are in infrastructure testing, and new service providers continue to enter the industry. Given the dramatic rate of growth, it is likely that urban Robotaxi services will become ubiquitous within the next two decades, with suburban expansion also likely.

Goldman Sachs Research’s forecast predicts that Robotaxis will grow from about 1% of total rideshare miles today to about 8% of total rideshare miles in 2030. 

Robotaxis represent some of the most ADAS-dependent vehicles on the road today, demanding the highest levels of maintenance, repair and calibration. As the robotaxi footprint expands, so too does the infrastructure to support them. With the infrastructure already in place, the cost to implement autonomous driving in personal vehicles decreases. 

Until recently, automotive manufacturers believed that fully autonomous vehicles—aka “self-driving cars”—would drive the future of consumer demand for privately-owned vehicles. However, recent studies, including those from AAA and Pew Research, indicate that American trust and interest in owning a self-driving car is low. These findings, combined with projected costs, have caused manufacturers to scale back on planned innovation—at least for personal vehicles.

But commercial development continues to move forward, as does the infrastructure to support autonomous fleet vehicles. Infrastructure developed to support commercial vehicles can be adapted to personal ones, potentially lowering costs, while exposure to these vehicles (assuming continued safe operation) will likely build consumer trust.

The combination of increased exposure to self-driving vehicles, improvements in ADAS safety technology, and development of infrastructure to support commercial autonomous vehicles will likely lead to the organic adoption of ADAS levels 3-5.

A sustainability value chain integrates environmental stewardship, business workforce development and initiatives and corporate ethics into a company’s entire product or service development lifecycle. It refers to the sustainability of the entire chain of organizations that create a product or service, from raw materials to component parts and more.

For example, in the automotive insurance industry, the behaviors of collision repairers and automotive glass providers would be a part of the sustainability value chain. We predict that as public support of apprenticeships programs continues to grow, inclusion of apprenticeships into the value chains will become a differentiator for the automotive insurance and related industries.