Recently there was a fatal crash of a driver using the Tesla Model S’s autopilot feature. This brought discussions of driver assist technologies to the forefront. There are a number of companies working on developing self driving cars including Tesla, Google, Apple, and BMW.
Tesla’s autopilot uses Autosteer to keep the car in the current lane and Traffic-Aware Cruise Control to maintain the car’s speed. On a highway, the car will virtually drive itself. Tesla’s autopilot requires that the driver’s hands stay on the wheel while driving to enforce driver engagement.
The truck driver in the fatal accident is reported as saying the the driver was watching a Harry Potter movie while his car was in autopilot. This would be a gross over reliance on this beta technology.
Users of these driver assist technologies report they are very helpful for stop and go driving. Many newer cars have technology which will automatically stop the car to avoid an accident, which is tremendously helpful in stop and go traffic.
An issue with these technologies is that the driver might come to rely on the technology. The driver may become so use to the car automatically stopping that when they are driving a car that does not have this feature they could get into an accident because they expect the car to automatically stop.
Cars like the Tesla that offer autosteer on the highway can also create problems for the driver, because the driver thinks the car is in autosteer mode and it is not. The driver counts on the car’s technology to follow a turn in the road, but the feature is not enabled. The driver then has to react quickly to get the car back into its lane.
These technological features can assist drivers, but only if they don’t rely on it too much. Something to watch as driver assist becomes more prevalent is how drivers react when they are in a car that does not provide the features. When they are traveling or their car is in the shop can they go back to driving without driver assist?