Many drivers continue to rely on partially automated systems in their cars as if they were fully autonomous. This is what a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows and the numbers look particularly worrying despite widespread warnings from automakers, safety associations and the media.
The study was conducted by IIHS using a mixed mode survey (phone and online) among regular users of the General Motors Super Cruise, Nissan ProPilot Assist, and Tesla Autopilot. Around 600 Cadillac, Tesla, and Nissan or Infiniti owners were surveyed, about 200 of each brand.
Most safety systems today include two main features that support road driving. The first is adaptive cruise control, which maintains a set speed and follows the distance from the vehicle in front, automatically decelerating and accelerating when needed. The other is the lane centering system, which keeps the vehicle in the center of the selected lane by providing steering input. Some of the more advanced systems can also perform path changes.
However, none of the existing systems have been designed to completely replace human drivers. Nonetheless, many drivers surveyed said that, while driving with the safety system on, they were more likely to engage in activities such as eating or texting. Even more worryingly, more than half of Super Cruise users and 42 percent of Autopilot users said they threatened semi-autonomous systems as fully autonomous driving. In contrast, only 12 percent of ProPilot Assist users have this habit.
“The big picture message here is that early adopters of these systems still have a poor understanding of the limits of the technology,” said IIHS President David Harkey. “But we also saw clear differences between the three owner populations. It is possible that system design and marketing add to this misunderstanding.”
This disproportion in results can perhaps be explained by the fact that Cadillac’s version of the semi-autonomous system allows drivers to keep their hands off the wheel for extended periods of time. The other two systems, in turn, require the driver to keep the steering wheel essentially the entire time.
