Report Says Driver Aids Making Us Lazy

Technology can be a double-edged sword, and the reason is human stupidity. The latest example is a report from Automotive News. It details how quite a few automakers are actually scared the advanced driver aids debuting now and in the next few years could make people lazy.

For example, if your car has emergency forward braking, you might start looking at what’s happening on the side of the road. You know, your car has the looking ahead thing covered, so why do you have to do it? The problem is the system wasn’t designed to replace humans, but instead to enhance your full abilities. So, then you crash and declare that the technology doesn’t work.

We already know that the general public doesn’t understand autonomous vehicle technology levels. All the marketing gimmicks surrounding the tech help fuel the misconceptions. Tesla uses the term Autopilot, for example, which makes it sound like you can watch Netflix and the car will do the rest.

I can tell you from personal experience these driver aids don’t always work as advertised. So many times, I’ve been driving vehicles with blind zone alert systems, and out of habit checked my blind zones before changing lanes, only to find a vehicle in the next lane, without an alert sounding out.

Other studies have shown that drivers who have a stick shift are more aware of what’s going on around their car. It’s almost like having the person behind the wheel control more things makes them more engaged, and thus a better driver.