The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently released the findings of a study on how drivers of partially automated vehicles view their capabilities.
The findings showed that drivers were more inclined to participate in other activities using semi-automated functions such as eating or texting.
In the IIHS announcement it is reported that 42% of the Tesla Autopilot users said they were confident in treating their cars as fully autonomous.
Even more alarming 53 percent of Cadillac Super Cruise users said the same thing – in contrast to just 12 percent of Nissan/Infiniti Pro PILOT Assist customers.
The agency stated that it was the “big overall” results are that the early adopters “still do not have a clear understanding of technology’s limitations.”
IIHS President David Harkey added that it’s possible that “system structure and the marketing could be contributing to these misperceptions.” IIHS also states that the majority of the current partial automation systems provide lane centering and an adaptive cruise control however they are not able to replace humans as drivers.
The reality is that many people believe that cars are not driverless when they refer to them as ‘full-self-driving. Data gathered through the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety offers new insight into how people who are using advanced driver assistance (ADA) capabilities actually view the technology. Drivers using ADA systems, generally are more inclined over other road users to engage in non-driving tasks like eating or messaging when driving. Tesla, Cadillac, Nissan and other car makers with well-known ADA tools usually install devices on steering wheels or cameras within the cabin to see whether the drivers pay attention on their surroundings when they are driving on the roads.
