Photo: airfactsjournal.com
Most of the cars on sale in the U.S. today are fitted with some kind of automated system; also, most of these systems are Level 1 or 2 at the most, meaning they have very limited capabilities. Yet few American drivers get what the cars are doing or saying.
This is the conclusion of two studies conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), who blames this reality on two key factors: poorly named technologies that create false expectations, and drivers who simply don't understand what the cars are warning them about.
Just as the Euro NCAP did a while back, the IIHS chose Tesla's Autopilot as an example of a poorly named technology. As per the organization's conclusions, this name “signals to drivers that they can turn their thoughts and their eyes elsewhere.“ Which obviously is not the case.
To the point, 48 percent of people asked about Autopilot responded it's safe to take hands off the wheel and engage in other activities when the system is on (it's not). Six percent even said it would be ok to take a nap.
According to IIHS, at “least a few Tesla owners have been misusing Autopilot in this way, with fatal results.”
For this survey, IIHS compiled the answers of 2,000 American drivers.
The second factor is the drivers' inability to understand what they are being told by the car. IIHS took a look at the instrument cluster of a 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class with the Drive Pilot system for this purpose.
The research found that, despite most participants being aware of the adaptive cruise control changing speed to adapt to traffic conditions, most were unable to step in and brake when the lead vehicle disappeared from the display because o geography or some other reason.
For this second research, IIHS used 8 (yes, just eight) drivers who had to watch videos recorded from the driver's perspective.
You can have a closer look at IIHS' studies in the press release section attached below.
Just as the Euro NCAP did a while back, the IIHS chose Tesla's Autopilot as an example of a poorly named technology. As per the organization's conclusions, this name “signals to drivers that they can turn their thoughts and their eyes elsewhere.“ Which obviously is not the case.
To the point, 48 percent of people asked about Autopilot responded it's safe to take hands off the wheel and engage in other activities when the system is on (it's not). Six percent even said it would be ok to take a nap.
According to IIHS, at “least a few Tesla owners have been misusing Autopilot in this way, with fatal results.”
For this survey, IIHS compiled the answers of 2,000 American drivers.
The second factor is the drivers' inability to understand what they are being told by the car. IIHS took a look at the instrument cluster of a 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class with the Drive Pilot system for this purpose.
The research found that, despite most participants being aware of the adaptive cruise control changing speed to adapt to traffic conditions, most were unable to step in and brake when the lead vehicle disappeared from the display because o geography or some other reason.
For this second research, IIHS used 8 (yes, just eight) drivers who had to watch videos recorded from the driver's perspective.
You can have a closer look at IIHS' studies in the press release section attached below.
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