AAA cautions Consumers to not buy the Hype

New research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found consumer information that stresses convenience and capabilities while minimizing limitations can inflate expectations regarding what active driving assistance systems can do. AAA warns that a false sense of system capabilities created by marketing campaigns can lead to dangerous scenarios on the road.  Motorists using active driving assistance systems, which combine vehicle acceleration with braking and steering, tend to overlook safety limitations when the branding and marketing used to sell it suggest an “automated” driving experience, according to the new research.  “Based on data collected from our research, subtle differences in tone and emphasis significantly influenced people’s understanding of the technology and their expectations of its capability,” said Dr. David Yang, executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. “These systems assist the driver and take some of the stress out of driving, but they don’t eliminate the need for drivers to pay attention.”  In this latest AAA Foundation study, 90 research participants received a brief overview of an active driving assistance system with a realistic but fictitious name. Before driving the same vehicle, half of the participants were told their system was called “AutonoDrive” and were given an upbeat training that emphasized the system’s capabilities and driver convenience. The other half of the participants were told their system was named “DriveAssist,” and their training placed greater emphasis on the system’s limitations and driver responsibility. Participants trained on AutonoDrive came away with greater confidence and in some cases, overconfidence in the system.  After completing the training and driving the test vehicle 42% of the participants using AutonoDrive, said its name made the system more capable than it is and only 11% of DriveAssist users felt the same.