AAA Study: Active driving assistance tech often needs human intervention
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AUSTIN (KXAN) — Testing of both hands-on and hands-off driving assistance technology shows human intervention is needed in order to keep drivers safe on the road.
The study by AAA engineers found that hands-on systems required three times more stepping-in from drivers than the systems designed to be hands-off.
In total, the systems failed to handle the driving conditions adequately every 3.2 miles in traffic, which breaks down to every 9.1 minutes.
“These systems can enhance safety in certain situations, but they’re not a substitute for attentive driving,” AAA Texas Senior Public Affairs Specialist Daniel Armbruster said.
When it comes to what went wrong, researchers noted inadequate responses to cut-ins as the most common, defined as another vehicle driving directly in front of the test vehicle.
The second most common problem was failing to stay centered in the lane while driving.
Other issues that popped up included not resuming driving after coming to a stop, and not slowing down quickly enough.
All vehicles tested in this study were equipped with systems meeting the following requirements:
- Automatically controls acceleration, deceleration, and steering within the driving lane
- Operates on limited-access highways (minimum)
- Capable of coming to a complete stop
- Operates up to a speed of 25 mph (minimum)
- Representation of hands-on and hands-off systems (minimum 2 of each tested)
“This technology is not going away,” Armbruster said. “In fact, we’re going to see it more frequently as time moves forward, but really what’s important for drivers is that they stay alert and ready to take control.”
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