Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Volga bam here with another classic brain
Speaker 1: Stuff episode for as many ads as we do on
Speaker 1: this network about new cars, I personally happen to own
Speaker 1: an older one from two thousand seven, so when I
Speaker 1: rent a test drive a newer one, I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm in the incredible future. I could really see myself
Speaker 1: getting used to a reverse camera, or a heads up display,
Speaker 1: or safety features that helped keep you in your literal
Speaker 1: lane when used correctly. These technologies are great, but we
Speaker 1: got to wondering is there such thing as getting too
Speaker 1: used to them? Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vulgi bomb here.
Speaker 1: As some automotive safety experts have long suspected, recent studies
Speaker 1: show that the more technology we have in our cars,
Speaker 1: the worse we drive, and that includes cars, infottainment systems,
Speaker 1: and active safety systems. The American Automobile Association, or Triple A,
Speaker 1: sponsored a study that confirms how distracted drivers get. The
Speaker 1: study was conducted by researchers from the University of Utah
Speaker 1: and released in October. It rated thirty different vehicles infottainment
Speaker 1: systems on their potential to distract drivers. The study found
Speaker 1: that navigation systems were the most demanding distractions, and that
Speaker 1: tuning the radio and programming the navigation took driver's eyes
Speaker 1: off the road longer than making a phone call or texting.
Speaker 1: But overall, all infotainment tasks calling or dialing, texting, tuning
Speaker 1: the radio, or programming the navigation were associated with higher
Speaker 1: levels of cognitive demand. The Triple A research supports the
Speaker 1: findings of a University of Michigan study released last summer.
Speaker 1: This study, sponsored by an automaker, was designed to find
Speaker 1: out how drivers were using the automaker's blind spot warning system. Overwhelmingly,
Speaker 1: the researchers found people driving cars with blind spot detection
Speaker 1: systems tended to change lanes without ever checking for traffic
Speaker 1: on their own. These two studies identified two main problems,
Speaker 1: First that using some safety technology distracts drivers more, and
Speaker 1: second that drivers use safety systems as a primary source
Speaker 1: of input rather than as a backup. This all hints
Speaker 1: at a third problem that automakers are racing to develop
Speaker 1: these types of technology, and some are less cautious than others. Combined,
Speaker 1: these factors add up to a lot more drivers paying
Speaker 1: a lot less attention on the road. We spoke with
Speaker 1: Bill Van Tassel, manager of driver training programs at the
Speaker 1: Triple A. He explained the new technologies are sort of
Speaker 1: a double edged sword. If they work properly and drivers
Speaker 1: use them properly, there is a net safety benefit. If
Speaker 1: it doesn't work properly or the driver changes his or
Speaker 1: her behavior, there will be a net loss of safety.
Speaker 1: Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows traffic
Speaker 1: deaths increased from twenty to sixteen by two point six
Speaker 1: percent per one hundred million miles driven, but those deaths
Speaker 1: weren't due to distracted driving. Fatalities caused by distracted driving
Speaker 1: were actually decreased by more than two percent, but the
Speaker 1: rise in drivers not paying attention on the road is
Speaker 1: still a problem. Right now, many drivers have access to
Speaker 1: some type of autonomous driving technology, usually marketed as active
Speaker 1: safety systems, including blind spot monitoring, self park or park assistants,
Speaker 1: dynamic cruise control, which automatically follows the car in front
Speaker 1: at a safe distance, slowing down and speeding up is necessary,
Speaker 1: Lane keep assist, which senses when a car drifts out
Speaker 1: of its lane and helps the driver get back on track.
Speaker 1: Forward collision warning with emergency braking, which senses when a
Speaker 1: car gets too close to the car in front of
Speaker 1: it and automatically applies the brakes, and systems that scan
Speaker 1: for obstacles such as pedestrians, large animals, and cyclists, often
Speaker 1: combined with again automatic emergency braking. It's easy to imagine
Speaker 1: that the more of these systems are found in any
Speaker 1: given car, the less that a car's driver will believe
Speaker 1: it's necessary to pay attention to the road. And here's
Speaker 1: where the line gets blurred. Active safety systems are supposed
Speaker 1: to be a backup to a driver's skills to step
Speaker 1: in if the driver should make an error. Yet autonomous
Speaker 1: and self driving car technology implies by its very name
Speaker 1: that the driver won't really have to do anything behind
Speaker 1: the wheel. Another issue is that most of these systems
Speaker 1: are still relatively new and have only recently begun to
Speaker 1: show up on affordable mainstream cars. That means a lot
Speaker 1: of consumers don't know how to use them. Yet. Further
Speaker 1: complicating matters is that there is no consistency enforced or
Speaker 1: voluntary among the auto manufacturers, so these systems can operate
Speaker 1: very differently between brands and models. Eventually, a true self
Speaker 1: driving car will use all of these systems and more
Speaker 1: networked together to ensure the car never comes too close
Speaker 1: to neighboring traffic or other obstacles. However, even then, and
Speaker 1: certainly now, drivers are still supposed to remain in control
Speaker 1: of their vehicle. Since many drivers already show too much
Speaker 1: confidence in active safety systems, some safety experts worry that
Speaker 1: it will be hard to convince people to pay attention
Speaker 1: to the road in an even more autonomous vehicle. Experts
Speaker 1: suggest that standardizing technology terminology will help consumers understand what
Speaker 1: they're buying and how it really works, and further that
Speaker 1: auto manufacturers should work with dealers to make sure that
Speaker 1: information is getting across to their buyers. Van Tassel of
Speaker 1: Triple A maintains that ultimately the responsibility lies with the driver.
Speaker 1: He said, you should know what your vehicle systems will
Speaker 1: do and what they won't do. You're the one taking
Speaker 1: the vehicle on the road, so you need to be
Speaker 1: the one who steps up and initiates that. As for
Speaker 1: the original question of whether our driving skills are deteriorating,
Speaker 1: Vantassel is a bit more optimistic. He points out that
Speaker 1: drivers now need to learn how to use twenty or
Speaker 1: more new kinds of technology, so in a sense, our
Speaker 1: skill sets are expanding. In the future, traditional driving skills
Speaker 1: may no longer be necessary, but fully autonomous cars are
Speaker 1: still a long way off. For the time being, drivers
Speaker 1: should be ever more vigilant and ensure they're using self
Speaker 1: driving technology as intended. Today's episode was originally produced by
Speaker 1: Tristan McNeil and it's based on the article do our
Speaker 1: driving skills diminished when technology takes over? On how stuff
Speaker 1: works dot Com written by Charis Threwit. Brain Stuff is
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff
Speaker 1: works dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four
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