A new study conducted by insurance agency State Farm indicates that drivers who have vehicle with semi-autonomous safety systems are likely to engage in risky behaviour behind the wheel.
According to the study, 62 percent of drivers with lane-keep assist or adaptive cruise control in their vehicles will read and/or send text messages while driving, compared to just 49 percent without those technologies.
Furthermore, 42 percent of drivers with lane keep assist tech will video chat while driving, compared to 20 percent without it. Video chatting in cars with adaptive cruise control was similarly as common, with 39 percent of drivers with the tech reporting doing so while driving, compared to just 19 percent without.
The results of the study indicate that drivers who have advanced semi-autonomous safety systems such as these have more confidence that engaging in risky driving behaviours will not result in crash.
“Innovations such as Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Keeping Assist are designed to make our roadways safer,” said State Farm enterprise research Assistant Vice President Laurel Straub. “These systems are meant to assist drivers, not replace them.”
While studies from safety advocate groups like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety indicate that semi-autonomous safety systems can reduce the frequency of crashes, it is also acknowledged that there is a delicate balance between safety and driver engagement.
“Designers are struggling with trade-offs inherent in automated assistance,” David Zuby, IIHS chief research officer, said in 2018. “If they limit functionality to keep drivers engaged, they risk a backlash that the systems are too rudimentary. If the systems seem too capable, then drivers may not give them the attention required to use them safely.”
Semi autonomous safety systems are becoming commonplace on new vehicles, with many automakers offering tech like lane keep assist and automatic emergency braking as standard. With the expansion of such technology inevitable, it will be up to safety watchdog groups and automakers to ensure drivers are educated on the limitations of the systems.
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Source: Repairer Driven News/State Farm
Comments
Should be noted in the United States, certain states don’t have driving laws against holding the phone to your ear, texting/interacting with your phone…
The idea that Semi-Autonomous Safety Technology erodes driving skills is possibly the same type of argument people had for automatic transmission when they were first introduced.
No, automatic transmissions didn’t increase accident rates like distracted driving does. It’s the distracted driving that’s the problem, not the vehicle. The only difference is not having to pay attention to steering etc makes it easier to drive distractedly, moreso than when automatic transmissions were introduced. And now that something like 97% of vehicles sold are automatics in North America, and has been a high percentage for some time, it’s pretty safe to assume we’re all past the novelty of an auto, but the novelty of self steering is still there. IMO one of the worst things done was Elon Musk calling his semi autonomous system Autopilot, inferring people can set it and forget it. That idea spread to other semi autonomous systems, and it was never supposed to be that way.
Oh really?
That’s not what NHTSA thinks. It is amazing how much negative money is being passed around for fake stats and stories. Lets see, who is the absolute best at Autonomous driving? Hmmmmmm is it maybe Tesla?
No other Car company is even remotely close. Lets see, does Big Oil Spend Billions upon Billions each year to try and Short Tesla? Why yes they do. Could this report be absolutely made up? Why yes it can.
Make Autonomous “evil” and hopefully people that are buying Teslas in droves right now might stop. LOL
Give me a break. I am not stating that I want 100% Autonomy in my car but I am also smart enough to realize that the Government in no more than 20 years will have no choice but demand it. We’re humans and therefore are flawed while driving unfortunately. This is seriously a Nonsense issue.
EV’s and Autonomous vehicles are coming. Nothing we can do. We can dislike but we will not stop it from becoming a reality.
I just pray as a GM fan they will be in the lead and not left behind.
(From NHTSA site)
Benefits of Automation
Safety
The safety benefits of automated vehicles are paramount. Automated vehicles’ potential to save lives and reduce injuries is rooted in one critical and tragic fact: 94% of serious crashes are due to human error. Automated vehicles have the potential to remove human error from the crash equation, which will help protect drivers and passengers, as well as bicyclists and pedestrians. When you consider more than 37,133 people died in motor vehicle-related crashes in the U.S. in 2017, you begin to grasp the lifesaving benefits of driver assistance technologies.
Tesla absolute best at autonomous driving? Sorry, no. Tesla is level 2 autonomy. No company has level 5 autonomy yet. Audi has the most autonomous vehicle at a level 3, but it’s only available in Europe currently. Tesla is nearing level 3, but so is Cadillac, BMW, Volvo and a couple of others. Audi was also going to introduce the A8 with Traffic Jam Pilot in the US, a level 3 feature, but concerns over litigation and legislation delayed it. Waymo has been testing a level 4 autonomy in AZ for some time, but not yet widely available.
Tesla has over 8 Billion Miles of Autonomous Driving Data. Do you know who the second most is after that?
It is Waymo. They have collected a little over 10 Milion miles. Oh and those miles have been in mostly Geofenced areas.
But yeah sure whatever you would like to think. Trust me, nobody is remotely close to Tesla.
What do you think will happen when Tesla opens and starts Producing vehicles at the Shanghai Plant?
China is by far the biggest EV Market and they are craving Teslas.
Tesla is at least 4 to 5 years ahead of any Automaker right now. And I love it. It is an American Company that puts innovation as its Top Priority.
I wish them nothing but continued success. Oh and that is with Big Oil pumping Billions upon Billions of Dollars in Shorting its Stock and on Big Media telling lies. And they are still rocking it because they make amazing vehicles. I said it over five year sago, if GM doesn’t take Tesla serious they will have made a great error. Fast Forward and we now see. GM is desperately trying to catch up by closing Factories and laying off workers. It is shameful. They should have started this shift well over 10 years ago. Now Factory workers are losing their jobs due to the inept leadership at GM.
EV’s are for sure Cadillacs last real hope in my opinion.
I hope GM has some real EV’s coming out that are Zero Compromise vehicles.
The European A8 is level 2 with level 3 hardware, currently…Autopilot and Supercruise are highway only yet if Autopilot senses it can avoid a collusion it will perform complex steering and/or accelerating/braking maneuvers…To the fair, a this report citing an anonymous current and an anonymous former employee is to be believed, several key Tesla engineering managers working on its Autopilot semi-automated driving features recently left the company after CEO Elon Musk told some employees he was unhappy with the progress…
I don’t believe that study. I do know that senior drivers (over 60) who begin to suffer degrading sight and hearing problems and increased reaction time, will be the most who will benefit from autonomous vehicles, and drive safer than those who buy just to enjoy the technology for more free time. I see the autonomous features as driver assistance, just like the present rear view cameras and sonar sensors for parking.
This should not have ever needed a study. I am totally against most driver controls or drivers aids, they will always make good drivers worse and breed the worst drivers on this planet because no one will know how to become a super defensive accident free driver.
So far: i have not had an accident from 1999-2019; but i’m only human! A self-driving anything does not have what we humans have. “all a machine is doing is being Judgemental”!!
Yes, I completely agree with this statement (that semi-autonomous safety tech makes you a worse driver). All this tech crap is made for lazy and unprofessional drivers that could not do simple things. As a last minute essay writing professional at https://essayexplorer.com/blog/last-minute-essay-writing/ I know what I’m talking about. Some folks could not write a few sentences normally and that is a really huge problem. Seriously, try essay writing and this might change your mind a little bit.