Research Offers Little Evidence That Partial Automation Prevents Crashes
These days, it sometimes feels like drivers of newer cars rely so much on the gizmos trying to see for them that they can’t even remember what those shiny reflective things are for. Turns out those are mirrors!
It would be nice if we could just pump the brakes on automated driving to reassess whether there are any actual benefits. If the findings of a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) are anything to go by, perhaps we should do just that.
The group has examined crash records and insurance data for BMW and Nissan vehicles equipped with partially automated systems and has arrived at the following conclusion: There is little evidence that partial automation contributes to increased road safety.
“Everything we’re seeing tells us that partial automation is a convenience feature like power windows or heated seats rather than a safety technology,” IIHS president David Harkey said.
The results make the distinction between systems designed to take control of the vehicle and those aimed and crash avoidance—automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning, and lane departure prevention, for example. Those systems take over only when potential danger presents itself, such as when traffic is at a standstill before you and you still haven’t touched the brakes. Overall, they are unobtrusive, so most drivers leave them switched on and only notice them when they’re doing what they’re supposed to do.
On the other hand, partial automation—once switched on by the driver—works constantly to keep the vehicle centered in the lane, always making appropriate adjustments to speed and steering input.
HLDI has conducted several investigations into potential safety benefits of crash avoidance technologies and concluded “that features that warn or intervene in an emergency reduce the frequency of insurance claims, and the reductions increase incrementally as one feature is stacked on another,” according the findings published recently on iihs.org.
It adds that partial automation could help prevent crashes, as one of its chief components, adaptive cruise control, maintains safe following distances, while another component, lane centering, could alleviate side swipes and run-off-road crashes better than lane departure prevention, because lane centering theoretically preempts a departure rather than simply reacting to it.
In practice, however, there isn’t much evidence to suggest this is happening. HLDI studied the crash and insurance reports from BMW and Nissan vehicles, and property damage claims (damage to other cars hit by the Nissan drivers) were eight percent lower for 2017–19 Nissan Rogues equipped with automatic braking and forward collision warning than those without. However, there was no additional benefit from having active cruise control or Nissan’s ProPILOT Assist partial automation system, the report says.
Among 2013–17 BMW and Mini vehicles studied, automatic braking accounted for a 13 percent reduction in property damage claim rates. Driving Assistant Plus, BMW’s automated driving system, accounted for no statistically significant reductions.
Granted, automated technologies have advanced in the years since these Nissans and BMWs donated their front and rear ends to science, as the cars studied range from five to 11 years old. But that simply means that all the years of data add up to form a clearer picture. And as IIHS senior vice president Jessica Cicchino advised, “With no clear evidence that partial automation is preventing crashes, users and regulators alike should not confuse it for a safety feature.”
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Look this is a near impossible thing yo measure. But even with that these systems are still limited. They also are not without error. I have often had these system brake for phantom things or shadows.
My adaptive Cruise last week started to brake hard in a case were it was not required. I had to hit the gas not to brake check the car behind me.
The true fact is and will remain a fully engaged undistracted driver is the best way to prevent accidents.
But humans being humans they value theirs snd other life’s not of value. They may say they do but their actions speak differently.
Playing with the phone, drinking, drugs and many other things that take away the drivers attention along with poor drivers training. Most do not experience anti lock brakes till they are about to hit a car. They never learn to steer out of a skid when the stability control will not bail them out on ice.
Accidents are people problems not cars snd you cannot fix it with just cars. Harsher penalties for poor driving and if you drive with no license jail time. Harsh but so is dying go to too much selfishness.
“False positives” are a constant problem, distracting the driver (like when my wife nods off in the passenger seat, then suddenly awakens to realize we are moving, and assumes that *I* have nodded off…when I’ve been awake and alert the whole time). These disconcerting happenings cause the driver to be distracted just to ponder what’s wrong.
Good driver education, road tests which focus on driving rather than parking (including highway driving), and a zero tolerance policy for impaired driving will help to thwart accidents (along with monetary insurance premium rewards for continued good habits).
We all want to think that well-trained drivers will do a better job on the roads. I tend to think that the only thing that will make our roads safer is more (and tougher) law enforcement. Why do four drivers run the red light just after it changed? Why, when I’m going the speed limit, am I nearly run off the road by folks who will kill to get three more car lengths ahead? Why am I cut off by aggressive lane changers every day? Do we think ALL of these idiots just didn’t get good training? Nah. It’s because they don’t fear any consequences. I haven’t seen a cop with a radar gun for eons. If there’s a wreck, there will be four squad cars.