Risky roads: Drivers treat partially automated vehicles as fully autonomous

The concept of autonomous driving technology is tempting enough for the drivers to let the car's system work on its own while, at the same time, he or she relaxes or focuses on other activities in a moving car. However, a fully autonomous driving car is yet to hit the market. There are several semi-autonomous driving vehicles in the market, though. What's coming as a risky trend revelation is that many drivers treat partially automated vehicles as fully self-driving.

Research by Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has revealed that many drivers consider semi-autonomous vehicles as fully autonomous and indulge in other activities without paying due attention to the road ahead of the car, believing that the car's computer will take care of everything. The study shows that there is an alarming number of drivers who falsely believe in this. This comes despite the warnings from automakers, safety associations and media as well.

The study has been conducted on drivers who use technologies such as General Motors Super Cruise, Nissan ProPilot Assist and Tesla Autopilot. The study has covered around 600 Cadillac, Tesla and Nissan or Infiniti vehicle owners.

As IIHS claims, most of the new-age safety systems onboard the vehicles include two key features that support highway driving. The first one is adaptive cruise control, which ensures a set speed for the vehicles and follows the distance from other vehicles ahead. This technology automatically slows down and accelerates when required.

The other technology is a lane-centring system that keeps the vehicle in the middle of the selected lane by offering steering inputs. Some more advanced systems too perform other lane changes.

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