Tesla drivers on Autopilot aren't paying attention, study finds

Article content

It’s not hard to believe that Tesla drivers pay less attention to the road when their cars are in “Autopilot” hands-free driving mode, but now a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) backs that up.

Article content

The study arrives as the electric-car manufacturer is rolling out the latest beta versions of its FSD system, for “Full Self-Driving.” The MIT researchers studied “glance data” from 290 Autopilot events, and intend the study to be used when assessing the safety of automated systems, or when designing them, since Tesla certainly isn’t the only automaker offering cruise control with complex, automated-driving features.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Tesla drivers on Autopilot aren't paying attention, study finds Back to video

It isn’t so much that drivers didn’t pay as much attention — there’s really no surprise there — but that the study found out exactly where they’re looking while the car is hurtling down the highway.

Drivers looked away from the road more often when Autopilot was engaged, and were most likely to look down (which we suspect might be to look at a phone, although the study didn’t confirm this) or at the centre stack, which on a Tesla is a large infotainment screen. These down/centre stack glances were the longest of all, with 22 per cent of them exceeding two seconds — and if you’re going 100 km/h on the highway, you’ll travel 55.6 metres in those two seconds.

Article content

Now, in theory, that shouldn’t be an issue, because if the car’s driving itself, it should be looking out for problems. But even Tesla itself, on its website, says that “no Tesla cars are fully autonomous today and require active driver supervision.”

The study said that while Autopilot was engaged, drivers didn’t look at the road as often “and focused more on non-driving-related areas” than when they were in control of the steering wheel. When Autopilot was on, drivers didn’t compensate for their off-road glances by looking longer at the outside world.

Article content

While the MIT researchers referred to the report as “non-critical” of the automaker, they did say that “while Tesla’s safety reports suggest that many consumers are using Autopilot safely,” there have still been “high-profile crashes” on limited-access highways while drivers had Autopilot engaged. The study suggests that “there is evidence that drivers may not be using Autopilot as recommended,” and they become less attentive and relinquish control.

The researchers said this “could be caused by a misunderstanding of what the system can do and its limitations, which is reinforced when automation performs relatively well.” It could also be an effect of boredom, since sitting and watching your car travelling along an endless stretch of highway certainly can be mind-numbing.

The study is still only a first step, and MIT said that while drivers may become inattentive with partially-automated driving systems, there needs to be more data on how visual behaviour changes with automation. In the meantime, the controversy continues, and as Engadget reports, the head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board wants Tesla to concentrate on “basic safety issues” before it rolls out more of its auto-driving features.