There’s this argument online that flares up in Facebook Groups and comment sections from time to time, positing that the advent and widespread use of driver assistance systems are making people worse drivers. Because many new cars will alert you if there’s a car in your blind spot, actively steer themselves to keep you in your lane, and even slam on the brakes if you’re about to rear-end someone, why should you have to be constantly worrying about those things?
Studies have shown that vehicles with tech like adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking might actually be doing more harm than good, as my colleague Jason covered last year. These systems do well when they work, but sew the seeds for more incidents when they don’t, since they allow driver focus to shift away from the active task of driving.
These systems are also making people faster drivers, according to a study recently published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Additionally, the study determined that people who go from driving gas-powered cars to electric vehicles also tend to drive faster in some scenarios. Is all this new tech emboldening people to go faster? Sure seems like maybe.
The study, conducted in a collaboration between MIT’s AgeLab and Center for Transportation and Logistics and Toyota, analyzed driving data for 24 people in New England, who each drove a Tesla Model 3, an EV, and a Cadillac CT5, a gas-powered car. Both cars were equipped with their respective manufacturer’s highest level of driver assistance at the time: The Tesla had Autopilot, and the Cadillac had GM’s Super Cruise. Both of these systems allow for full hands-off driving, but still require the driver to pay full attention to the road.
Each of the 24 drivers had their driving habits analyzed for a month, resulting in 38,000 miles of total data, according to the study. Researchers used GPS tracking data, indicated speed, g-forces, and whether the driver assistance tech was active to determine driving habits and identify the differences from car to car.
The study found that when drivers used partial automation systems to assist their travels, they drove faster than those driving without the systems activated, not only for longer periods of time, but at higher speeds. From the study’s abstract:
[D]riving with partial automation, regardless of powertrain, was associated with significantly longer speeding durations and slightly greater speeding magnitudes compared to manual driving.
Interestingly, when you actually read the study’s conclusion, it doesn’t concretely tie automation use to faster driving:
[T]he findings indicate that regardless of powertrain, the probability of speeding appears to increase with automation use (Haus et al., 2022), which may or may not be a result of the presence of the automation software.
This makes a bit of sense, considering the study’s exceedingly small sample size for both the drivers and the number of miles driven. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the results held as the sample size increased. When you let the car do most of the work, and you become less of an active participant, you become less concerned—or even less aware—of stuff like speed, because you’re taking a back seat to the act of driving, rather than devoting your full attention to it. So you might not realize you’re going way faster than you should be.
When it came to EVs, the study found that, after some time behind the wheel, drivers tended to have more of a lead foot, but only on residential streets and controlled access roads (interstates and divided highways), and not arterial roads (high-volume, main roadways with multiple lanes that aren’t divided highways with controlled access points). From the study’s conclusion:
Compared to ICE drivers, the EV drivers tended to speed for less extended periods on arterial roads and were more likely to exceed speed limits by greater margins on residential and controlled access roads. Differences in speeding duration between EV and ICE drivers on arterial roads were evident from the start of the study. However, differences in speeding magnitude on residential and controlled access roads emerged after the first week, reflecting a gradual shift in speed control among EV drivers.
The delay in speed gains over time is the most fascinating point here, as it suggests that once people were comfortable with how the EV drove, they tended to gain more speed. Whether that means they were more confident about speeding or they couldn’t as readily perceive how quickly they were going is unclear.
Having switched between EVs and gas-powered cars in the past, I can say that in most cases, it’s far more straightforward to quickly bolt up to speed with an EV, and way easier to accelerate, even when you’re already at highway speeds, to pass people. There’s also no sound involved with an EV, meaning it’s tougher to immediately perceive how quickly you’re traveling. I could see the average driver making good use of that instant torque to get places a bit quicker, without realizing they’re doing it.
It’s worth noting the study was conducted not only to find out whether EVs or automation makes people faster, but to find out how people actually use their vehicles with these new pieces of tech to inform future car design, according to the Detroit Free Press:
Pnina Gershon, a research scientist at MIT’s AgeLab and Center for Transportation and Logistics who conducted the research, said the point of the study was to simply observe how people realistically drive the vehicles in their daily lives, not solve a specific engineering problem.
“There is limited data on this topic of how the introduction of new technologies are associated with changes in behavior,” Gershon said. “There is a gap here. A lot of attention is given to greenhouse gas emissions and so forth, but driver behavior is another key aspect that needs to get the spotlight.”
So how exactly will this study influence the next generation of Toyotas? Derek Caveney, the Toyota senior engineer and liaison between the company and MIT, didn’t really get into specifics when asked by the Free Press, saying that this study and those like it are “creating more opportunities to develop interventions that support safe and efficient driving behaviors.” To me, it sounds like the company wants to make sure people are more aware of their situations, even if they’re not in total control of their cars 100% of the time.
If anything, I think more research is needed on this subject. As automated systems become more commonplace, it won’t be long until the majority of cars on the road use at least some of this driver assistance tech. Whether that’s better or worse for everyone on the road, well, I guess we’ll see.
Top graphic image: DepositPhotos.com, Volkswagen, Jason Torchinsky
So all the nanny things I turn off so I can drive in comfort keep me from speeding?
That’s funny.
I dont need any of that getting in my way of actually driving. The only really useful parts are the parking sensors so I don’t bump a wall in the parking lot and the backup camera so I can watch the ant hill behind my car at home. I don’t want to run over the skitter critters. For everything else I have eyes, ears, mirrors, and common sense.
What’s really interesting is that in EVs, on longer trips, the slower-speed modes are actually associated with shorter overall trip times. You’ll spend a lot less time charging if you go 60mph than if you go 75mph, which totally outweighs the minimal time savings from driving 15mph faster.
Having taken my EV up past 130mph I know just how fast the battery drains while having fun. However, if having fun is the reason for the drive I’ll gladly wait extra time at a fast charger someplace.
This seems like it should be obvious, or maybe that’s just to me. I would offer that there might be a bit of helmet factor in here as well, where people tend to take more risks believing they’re safer, though I suppose that would relate more to the safety systems. I love that, in pondering a fix, they mention increased intervention when the solution is to just not have this BS. If driving is too hard, don’t do it. Oh, but “whaa, it’s so hard paying attention!” Except that you still have to with these nonsense aids. We as a society need to bring back the concept of personal responsibility.
Brian,
Autopilot is hands-on. It’s the combination of adaptive cruise control and lane centering. It goes up to the speed it’s set at.
“Full Self-Driving” (Supervised) is the hands-off version. That software doesn’t have set maximum speeds and will speed in most profiles.
If the study used FSD, I’m not surprised. If it used Autopilot, I’m still not surprised. That has a driver selectable speed offset that most people set higher than the speed limit.
Quick, someone do a comparison between Automatics and Manual transmissions so insurance can give me a discount because I’m paying so much attention (to not spilling my coffee in my hand while I shift gears)
Love the top shot. 71 Karmann Ghia Convertible going as fast as it could when I was 16. We don’t need no stinkin aids.
I have driven a Karmann Ghia over 90mph and DID NOT like the feeling of the body lifting off the road until the steering input went slack and I slowed down so I could steer again. NO thanks not ever again. I am good.
Not a top down convertible run, still stable at 110, the max I ever achieved alongside a Chevelle that had a speedo that went over 90.
The one I was in was a hard top very lifting body shaped.
I over reinforced the floor pan and added stainless alloy tubing to weak side rails, coil overs for rear suspension, Monza exhaust, and a new top. and that’s it. Off road, always landed flat, never bottomed out, and was still going last I heard with the 2nd after me owner.
The most important piece of data is missing from the article: how significant of a difference are we talking about? If it’s a highway average speed of 72.7 mph vs 72.9, it might be enough for someone at MIT to confirm their hypothesis and publish their findings but it hardly matters. I dunno — in my experience when the researches don’t give the figures in their write-ups, it’s because the difference is hardly significant.
~2mph faster in EVs on residential roads from week 2 onward (5-6mph over in EVs, vs 3-4mph over in ICE), and almost no difference on average speed on arterial and controlled access. (source: Figure 3 of the linked publication)