Basic car automation is enough to make drivers more distracted


A study from an American insurance and road safety body has found that drivers become complacent when using vehicles equipped with even basic partial automation features.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers of vehicles with Level 2 ADAS systems, like adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assistants, are twice as likely to take their hands off the wheel than drivers of cars with more basic Level 1 systems.

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Drivers of Level 2 equipped vehicles were also found to be 12 times more likely to take their hands off the wheel when compared to driving manually with no assistance.

To uncover this phenomenon, the IIHS gathered a group of 20 drivers and gave them one of two vehicles for a month — either a Land Rover Range Rover Evoque or a Volvo S90.

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