Experts claim that automated vehicles may impede driver performance as they start to rely more on their smart features. These cars are taking many tricky tasks in maneuvring a car, from parallel parking to backing up, out of the driver's hands.

A study from the University of Toronto highlights the importance of drivers keeping the focus on driving even when they are using an automated vehicle. Professor Birsen Donmez and her team used an AV driving simulator and eye-tracking equipment to study two types of vehicle displays and their effects on the driving behaviors of the 48 participants in their study.

The researchers published their study in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention, which revealed that overreliance on AV technology is a big problem for drivers driving automated vehicles.

Driving Behavior in TORAC           

In a press release by the University of Toronto, the researchers said that overreliance of drivers on AV technology is most notable with a type of in-vehicle display that the researchers called the "takeover request and automation capability," or TORAC for short.

The driver is asked to take control of the vehicle when automation is not available or if it fails, hence the "takeover request." While the "automation capability" tells the driver how close the automation is to its limit.

Donmez said that TORAC will make the driver feel that they are still part of the driving task even if they are not actively doing the job. That is important because they have to monitor the vehicle and possibly step in when the automation fails, given that technology available today is not perfectly automated yet.

"And these vehicles fail - it's just guaranteed. The technology on the market right now is not mature enough to the point where we can just let the car drive and we go to sleep. We are not at that stage yet," Donmez said.

For example, Tesla's AV technology warns the driver every 30 seconds if the driver's hands are not on the steering wheel, which prompts support from the driver in case the automation fails.

"Even though cars are advertised right now as self-driving, they are still just level two, or partially automated," says post-doctoral researcher and lead author Dengbo He. "The driver should not rely on these types of vehicle automation."

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Driving Behavior in STTORAC

According to a report by Tech Xplore, the researchers also tested another in-vehicle display system that adds the surrounding traffic information to the TORAC system, called the STTORAC.

STTORAC system provides information on potential traffic conflicts on the road and their surrounding driving environment which led to the shortest reaction time for drivers to take over.

Dengbo He said that it is easy for drivers to lose focus when they are not driving, so an added information on the surrounding traffic will keep them better engaged in monitoring the automated vehicle. That means the future AVs should ensure systems are designed to keep the drivers attentive.

Donmez said that they are looking next into how non-driving behaviors could lead to drowsiness which is more dangerous than being distracted.

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