By Mike Davey
Toronto, Ontario — May 9, 2017 — A new study seems to indicate that relying on automated systems turns people into worse drivers, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Safety Research. The study was conducted by Sijun Shen and David M. Neyens of Clemson University.
The paper, “Assessing drivers’ response during automated driver support system failures with non-driving tasks,” asserts that drivers using automated systems responded worse than those driving manually in terms of “reaction time, lane departure duration and maximum steering wheel angle to an induced lane departure event. These results also found that non-driving tasks further impaired driver responses to a safety critical event in the automated system condition.”
In brief, responses were slower for those driving vehicles with autonomous features, especially when they were engaged in a non-driving related task.
The research was conducted by having 48 participants “drive” in a simulator that two levels of automated driving, and two levels of a non-driving task. The goal of the study was to quantify drivers’ responses to safety critical events while engaged in a non-driving task, in this case watching a video.
The study used a simulated gust of wind to push the car out its lane, while researchers monitored the participants’ responses. In general, the study found that drivers had longer reaction times and worse lateral control when driving under automated conditions. Subjects in the completely manual cars had their hands on the wheel and so could steer back into the lane fairly smoothly. The drivers of the semi-automated cars responded to the gust of wind more slowly and more severely, jerking the car back into the lane.
