In line with the industry’s move towards greater autonomy, ASEAN NCAP has introduced the Intelligent Vehicle Advanced Safety Assessment (IVASA), a dedicated evaluation platform for advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS). The programme is aimed at assessing the real-world performance, safety and reliability of these technologies for Southeast Asia. The creation of the test, the agency explained, is to evaluate whether Level 2 semi-autonomous driving functions in cars today – which tend to be calibrated for their home markets, not ours – are capable of handling uniquely ASEAN road conditions. These include complex traffic situations, diverse vehicle types, high densities of motorcycles and pedestrians, and our, ahem, “localised driving behaviours” (their words, not mine). “To ensure passenger vehicles are truly equipped for Southeast Asia, we must evaluate intelligent technologies within the context of our local road realities,” said ASEAN NCAP technical leader Yahaya Ahmad. “IVASA was established to bridge this gap, creating specialised assessment protocols that safeguard drivers while supporting the safe deployment of next-generation mobility.” Created in collaboration with ASEAN NCAP’s testing partner, the China Automotive Engineering Research Institute (CAERI), IVASA consists of three assessment categories. Basic Driving Assistance evaluates a vehicles ability to avoid obstacles such as other cars, lorries, motorcycles and “localised road features” including crashed cars, cows and even wild boars. This will be held on a closed course. Yahaya admitted there will be some overlap with the current ASEAN NCAP protocol, which tests autonomous emergency braking effectiveness under the Safety Assist Technologies (SAT) banner. The key part of the IVASA, however, is that Level 2 features such as adaptive cruise control and lane centring assist are enabled throughout, in order to evaluate the car’s smarts when it is driving itself. The second category is Intelligent Driving Assistance, which tests a car’s ability to navigate highways and