Partial self-driving cars should be called self-deluding cars. Keep your hands on the wheel

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Perhaps they should be called “self-deluding automobiles.” A recent study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, (IIHS), an independent American non-profit, found that “drivers who use partial automation on a regular basis often treat their vehicles as fully self-driving despite widespread warnings and numerous high-profile crash reports.”

It’s hard to decide what’s more depressing, that drivers are so lazy and misguided that they ignore frequent warnings or that it was necessary to conduct a study to find out that drivers are so lazy and misguided that they ignore frequent warnings.

After all, there is nothing more human than knowing something is wrong and doing it anyway. That’s pretty much what being human is all about. If you are talking about how bad fast food is while eating a cheeseburger extra value meal, you are on brand. The Webster’s definition may as well read: “Human Being: Unfeather’d, two-legged thing that knows something is wrong and does it anyway.”

People are warned about the dangers of smoking (and do it anyway). They are warned about the dangers of drugs and alcohol (and do them anyway). We all know we are going to die one day and yet we waste the very finite time we have on this earth chasing materialistic prizes and fleeting pleasures rather than investing ourselves into what truly matters. We haven’t met a warning we couldn’t ignore. Why should driver-assistance systems be any different?

Aside from highlighting that humans are consistently inconsistent when it comes to heeding warnings, the IIHS study reveals the ways motorists treat their driver-assistance vehicles as if they were spaceships beamed in from the future. The IIHS surveyed 600 Cadillac, Tesla and Nissan/Infiniti owners (200 of each) all of whom were regular users of Cadillac Super Cruise, Nissan/Infiniti ProPILOT Assist and Tesla Autopilot.

These vehicles were chosen because their systems “reflect the diversity of designs on the market” that assist highway driving. Adaptive cruise control, for instance, maintains a set speed and slows and accelerates automatically to sustain a safe distance, while lane centring helps keep a vehicle in the middle of the travel lane. All three use sensors to determine when a driver has their hands on the steering wheel.

In what can be considered a master-class in understatement, IIHS President David Harkey observed, “The big-picture message here is that the early adopters of these systems still have a poor understanding of the technology’s limits.”

Uh, yes, they do.

In the same way that his wings’ wax-and-feather system gave Icarus (mythology’s favourite early adopter) the confidence to fly near the sun, driver-assistance systems create a misguided belief that their automobiles can drive themselves. According to the IIHS, “53 per cent of Super Cruise users, 42 per cent of Autopilot users and 12 per cent of ProPILOT Assist users said that they were comfortable treating their vehicles as fully self-driving.”

Super Cruise and Autopilot users were more likely to take their hands off the wheel and eyes off the road. Super Cruise drivers were “the least likely to say that an activity they think is unsafe to do when the system is switched off is safe to do when the system is switched on.”

The IIHS noted that marketing contributes to the misuse. “TV commercials for Super Cruise focus on its hands-free capabilities by depicting drivers patting their laps and clapping their hands along with a song, for instance.” Specifically, the GMC Sierra commercial shows drivers clapping to “We Will Rock You.” The 2021 Cadillac Escalade shows a driver taking her hands from the wheel and saying ominously, “Here we go …” Tesla doesn’t advertise. ProPILOT’s commercial shows the driver keeping his hands on the wheel.

Some of the confusion may come from the systems’ names. Take Tesla’s Autopilot. Webster’s defines autopilot as “a device for automatically steering ships, aircraft and spacecraft.” That screams self-driving to me. True, Tesla constantly warns drivers that its Autopilot is not that kind of ‘autopilot,’ but rather a driver assistance system. It requires drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and even uses a driver-facing camera to monitor whether the driver is looking at the road.

I can only speak from my own experience but, to me, the name Super Cruise has a 1979 vibe to it and conjures up images of effortless carefree journeys. ProPILOT, in contrast, reminds me that I’m neither a “pro” nor a “pilot.” That may account for Nissan/Infiniti drivers being the most responsible. The name at least implies a certain amount of vulnerability.

Gender may also play a factor. ProPILOT Assist users were split evenly between the sexes. Super Cruise and Autopilot users were predominantly male. Super Cruise users tended to be over 50 years old. Autopilot users were younger, with a quarter under 35. From this we can surmise that males between the ages of “every age” are more likely than women to ignore warnings and treat their driver-assistance systems as if they are infallible.

So, to those who own a car with a driver-assistance system: if you’re driving and you “find yourself thinking” that an activity you “think is unsafe to do when the system is switched off is safe to do when the system is switched on” think again. Put your hands on the steering wheel and keep your eyes on the road. It should be automatic.