A new IIHS reports suggests “cooperative” driving is safer than letting the robots do all the work
In news that should shock no one, it turns out not all drivers understand how their “self-driving” cars operate. What is more shocking — or at least should be — is that it could mean there are people cruising down the highway with their hands off the wheel, thinking their cars’ semi-autonomous driving systems are, in fact, doing the driving.
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This revelation comes out of a recent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) study called Partial automation that allows some manual steering may help keep drivers engaged. According to its author, Alexandra Mueller, if your semi-autonomous car — i.e. one with some form of lane-keeping assist — allows you to make minute steering adjustments without deactivating its self-driving system, you’re more likely to per-emptively grab the steering wheel just in case the onboard sensor array can’t recognize a potentially sticky situation.
On the other hand, if your automated driving system doesn’t allow you to make minor lane adjustments without de-activating, then you are less likely to per-emptively intervene should danger present itself.
Wade through all the details and the IIHS’s main message seems to be that “cooperative” driving — when drivers are allowed to steer the vehicle without interrupting their car’s computer controls — results in a more hands-on approach to driving safety. Indeed, cooperative driving may be the best way to “keep drivers engaged,” says Mueller, a senior research scientist with the IIHS. Not only are these drivers less likely to be distracted, but they’ll also be more likely to take over control of the steering wheel when unexpected hazards crop up.
Mueller’s team conducted an online survey of 1,260 owners of Ford, General Motors, Nissan, and Tesla vehicles, all equipped with some form of partial automation that the owners used on a regular basis. Those specific brands were chosen because Ford’s Blue Cruise and Nissan’s ProPilot Assist systems remain switched on even if the driver makes steering adjustments; while GM’s Super Cruise and Tesla’s Autopilot “stop their lane-centering support when the driver gives steering input.”
All the participants were shown three videos. The first depicted the driver’s car travelling along a divided highway with no other vehicles present. The second had them driving in the left lane while a pickup in the right lane ahead was towing a trailer; while it was maintaining a steady path, its left-side tires were touching the lane markers. In the third scenario, the same truck was ahead, ostensibly again occupying the right-hand lane, but occasionally veering into the left lane as drivers caught up to it. In each scenario, participants were asked if they would have put hands on the steering wheel or pre-emptively steered their vehicle away from the errant pickup.
According to the IIHS, not only were the drivers with cooperative systems more likely to steer to the left side of their lane even when the truck wasn’t weaving, a whopping 40% more would have automatically put their hands on the wheel even if the pickup ahead was keeping to its lane; and 48% more of them would have put at least one hand on the wheel if the truck was weaving. They were simply, as we all were taught in driver’s education, being proactive.
The reason for the greater interaction is because, says Mueller, “systems that switch themselves off whenever the driver steers may make drivers less likely to want to intervene, as it’s a pain to reactivate the system again and again.” It also suggests, says Mueller, “that cooperative steering may have an implicit influence on how willing drivers are to take action when the situation calls for it.”
In other words, those whose advanced driver assistance systems remain engaged even if they make minor course corrections are also more likely to take control of the car before encountering a situation the self-driving system might not understand.
Systems that switch themselves off whenever the driver steers may make drivers less likely to want to intervene, as it’s a pain to reactivate the system again and again
Alexandra Mueller, IIHS senior research scientist
What is certainly more surprising — and possibly more dangerous — is Mueller’s contention that some of the owners tested didn’t know whether their own cars had cooperative steering or not. Shown a video clip of driver gently guiding the car from one side of the lane to the other, they were then asked if their own car would continue self-driving after such a manoeuvre. According to Mueller, “the respondents tended to think that their systems stayed on and continued to help steer when they executed a manoeuvre like the one shown in the video, even when they didn’t.”
That is troubling for a number of reasons. It suggests, for instance, that there might be a bunch of Tesla and GM owners out there driving with their hands off the wheel when, in fact, neither Autopilot or Super Cruise is engaged (while Super Cruise can automatically re-engage if immediately steered back to the centre of the lane, Tesla’s lane-centering support always deactivates if the driver steers the car at all).
More importantly it means there could be a giant — hell, gaping — hole in the understanding of autonomous automobile safety. The National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and all the other organizations looking into the safety of autonomous automobiles — we’re looking at you, Tesla — only investigate incidents in which they can confirm that self-driving was activated. They are not investigating any collisions in which the driver might have thought that self-driving was engaged.
In fact, as far as Mueller is aware, no one is even collecting any data on the subject. If a driver reacted to a dangerous situation, for instance, by grabbing the wheel and then just ten seconds later was in a collision because they incorrectly thought that semi-autonomous lane-centering was still active, that would not be included in any of the data regarding the safety of self-driving systems.
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