The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has released new safety regulations for modern driver assistance systems and says that greater driver engagement should be a priority, the catch-22 being that ever-improving technologies cause drivers to become too uninvolved in the process.
“Unfortunately, the more sophisticated and reliable automation becomes, the more difficult it is for drivers to stay focused on what the vehicle is doing,” claims David Harkey, president of the IIHS. “That’s why systems should be designed to keep drivers actively engaged.” Currently, the SAE International classification system for driver aids ranges from 0 (no automation at all) to 5 (a fully self-driving machine), but Level 2 is the maximum available in current vehicles.
The features fitted to modern cars include adaptive cruise control (the car controls the speed based on the distance from the vehicle in front), active lane changing, and lane keeping assist. The IIHS’ concern is that these features should be designed to encourage constant attentiveness from the driver, even if the car can execute a lane change on its own.
Read the article at CarBuzz.