The majority of vehicle owners think that the installation of advanced driver assistance technology qualifies their car as a “fully automated self driving vehicle,” a new study shows – and experts worry that over-confidence could cost lives.
Experts worry that the finding could indicate that drivers think advanced driver assistance systems are just as good at preventing crashes as hypothetical autonomous driving technology that has yet to be invented – a dangerous assumption that’s already proven to lead to distracted behavior behind the wheel.
Even worse, the researchers found that the phenomenon of “automation complacency” doesn’t go away when drivers learn more about the true capabilities of advanced driver assistance-equipped cars, including when they actually buy and start driving them – and in some cases, automakers themselves may be actively adding to the confusion. Hearteningly, a substantial majority of survey respondents indicated they were willing to attend education classes about the proper operation of cars at all levels of automation.
Read the article at Streetsblog USA.
