Partially automated vehicles are causing drivers to do more multitasking while driving, leading to attention being taken away from the road, according to new research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
During a month-long study of driver behavior by IIHS and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Age Lab, and using Volvo’s Pilot Asist partially automated system, drivers were likely to do activities such as check their phone, eat a sandwich or other distracting behaviors. The multitasking also increased over time for some drivers as they grew more comfortable with the technology.
“These results are a good reminder of the way people learn,” said David Harkey, president of IIHS. “If you train them to think that paying attention means nudging the steering wheel every few seconds, then that’s exactly what they’ll do.”
In another study with drivers using Tesla’s Autopilot system, users were able to “trick” the system’s attention reminder feature to prevent further warnings from escalating, IIHS-AgeLab found. Many drivers used this “skill” to further engage in distracting behaviors, the study found.
“In both these studies, drivers adapted their behavior to engage in distracting activities,” Harkey said. “This demonstrates why partial automation systems need more robust safeguards to prevent misuse.”
Distracted driver
In the Volvo study, IIHS and AgeLab analyzed 29 volunteers supplied with a 2017 Volvo S90 sedan equipped with Pilot Assist. Over four weeks, they studied how they engaged in non-driving activities while using automation on highways.
Some of the activities found by drivers during the study while the partially automated functions were engaged in:
- Eating
- Grooming
- Using electronics
The drivers did these activities while using Pilot Assist either a lot or hardly at all, IIHS said.
Tesla study
A different group was focused on how often the driver’s trigger a Tesla’s Autopilot initial attention reminders, escalated warnings and emergency slowdown procedures.
In the study, drivers drove more than 12,000 miles with Autopilot engaged, during that time the drivers triggered 3,858 attention-related warnings from the partial automated system. About half of those occurred when they had just one hand on the steering wheel but not moving enough to satisfy the torque sensor.
Researchers found the percentage of time that drivers were disengaged in the period surrounding the alerts also increased and drivers found ways to trick the system so that it wouldn’t alert them as they looked away from the road or didn’t have both hands on the wheel.
“These results show that escalating, multimodal attention reminders are very effective in getting drivers to change their behavior,” said Alexandra Mueller, senior research scientist at IIHS. “However, better safeguards are needed to ensure that the behavior change actually translates to more attentive driving.”
