Drivers Want Safe Automation and Driver Monitoring, Survey Shows

A new IIHS report shows that drivers are aware of the risks of driver distraction, and want help staying engaged while their cars automate some tasks

By Keith Barry

Drivers want automation on their cars, and they want their cars to help them use that automation safely, a new survey from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety suggests.

When the road safety advocacy group asked drivers about advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) such as lane centering assist (LCA), automatic lane changing, and driver monitoring, respondents said they wanted the features—but they also indicated that they wanted to remain engaged behind the wheel.

Already, experts at the IIHS, Consumer Reports, AAA, and the National Transportation Safety Board say driver monitoring can make automation safer behind the wheel. These survey results show that drivers want driver monitoring features as well.

Many drivers told the IIHS that they were interested in LCA, a feature that continuously centers a vehicle within its lane. But among those who wanted lane centering, the majority of drivers said they would feel safer knowing that the vehicle was monitoring them to make sure they were using the feature as it was designed to be used. And they told the IIHS that they knew they’d be more likely to become distracted or perform other tasks—such as texting—while using a “hands free” LCA system.

In addition, more than half of drivers told the IIHS that they would feel comfortable if a driver monitoring system checked to see if their eyes were facing the road while LCA was in use because it would make them feel safer.

For systems that can automatically change lanes, survey respondents said they would prefer if the driver could initiate the lane change rather than the car making that choice for them—as Tesla’s Navigate on Autopilot feature does—and that they’d want to have their hands on the wheel while the car was changing lanes.