Traffic accidents are often caused by inattentive drivers. A recent study by a team in George Mason University in Virginia, has found that during simulated driving, people's minds wander upwards of 70 per cent of the time.
"In terms of improving safety in the future, one option could be autonomous transport systems, like self-driving cars, that allow people's minds to wander when it is safe to do so, but re-engage when they need to pay attention," Carryl Baldwin, one of the researchers at Mason varsity said.
But self-driving cars or vehicle automation do not guarantee road safety or reduce traffic jams, says Delft researcher Daniël Heikoop, who attributed it to the basic human instinct of getting bored with repetitive jobs.
Heikoop, who did his research partially at the University of Southampton, conducted his study on participants who'd drive around in a Tesla on the highway through Coventry (England) with the Autopilot feature turned on.
The people behind the wheel were asked to do nothing but supervise and intervene only when necessary. Once they finish their 35-minute effort-less drive, Heikoop measured their heartbeat and eye movements. When he assessed their psychological state, their workload, stress and fatigue levels, surprisingly he found out that people tended to doze off with "eye movements and heartbeat slowed down."
Heikoop, who observed similar phenomenon when he had people drive in a platoon using a simulator earlier, said, "People are not apt to perform the necessary supervisory tasks."
The platooning technology enables vehicles to drive at close distances from each other but this too proved more detrimental to driver's alertness, he noted.
"Tests have already been conducted in the Netherlands with trucks that drive in platoons. That research did not focus on the effects this has on the driver's mental workload and responsiveness," said Heikoop.
Since we are heading into a future self-driving and highly-automated cars, that still need supervision, it is far more dangerous than previously thought, he cautioned.
