Most drivers prefer partial automation to hands-free: IIHS study

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Drivers like assist systems that help with highway driving, but they prefer partial automation that lets them stay engaged rather than full autonomy, and want safeguards for those features. That’s according to a new survey by the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

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The survey of 1,000 drivers focused on the three common features of lane-centering, automated lane-changing, and driver monitoring.

These are usually bundled with adaptive cruise control, which maintains a pre-set speed and then further maintains a selectable distance from the vehicle in front. Lane-centering adjusts the steering to stay in the middle of the lane. Automated lane-changing moves the vehicle into an adjacent lane after it determines the lane is clear, either on its own or when the driver activates the turn signal.

Driver monitors may use cameras focused on the driver’s face or eyes, or on the driver’s hands; or sensors in the steering wheel that monitor if the driver is holding the wheel. These are important because these partial automation features can’t handle all driving situations, and the driver may have to intervene.

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Lane-centering and lane-changing can be hands-free on some vehicles – such as Cadillac’s Super Cruise, Tesla’s Autopilot, or Ford’s BlueCruise – but the survey found most respondents prefer a hands-on version, especially for changing lanes, where a majority preferred to initiate the move themselves.

The survey found a high level of acceptance for driver monitoring, on both hands-on and hands-free systems, and for either camera- or sensor-based monitors. “The drivers who were the most comfortable with all types of driver monitoring tended to say they would feel safer knowing that the vehicle was monitoring them to ensure they were using the feature properly,” said Alexandra Mueller, who led the survey.

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While a majority of respondents preferred hands-on lane-centering, some felt a hands-free version would make driving safer and more comfortable — but some of them also said it would give them “more opportunity to do other things while driving.” No systems currently available are fully autonomous, and IIHS said that such responses “illustrate consumers’ fuzzy understanding of the limits of partial automation.”

The hands-on crowd also feels more strongly about it than those who prefer hands-free. Around two-thirds of those who prefer hands-on or have no preference would buy a vehicle with hands-on. Among those who prefer hands-free, more than three-quarters would buy a vehicle with either a hands-on or hands-free version of the feature. “It may come as a surprise to some people,” Mueller said, “but it appears that partially-automated features that require the driver’s hands to be on the wheel are actually closer to one-size-fits-all than hands-free designs.”