Slow Humans Raise Seriously Ironic Safety Concerns Over Autonomous Cars

The surprising length of time it takes the average human to re-take control from an autonomous car has blown the subject of the new technology’s safety wide open.

Autonomous cars can’t yet handle all situations, and sometimes have to ask the human behind the wheel to take charge for a while, sounding and/or flashing a warning that the vehicle is about to relinquish control.

Researchers at the University of Southampton have completed a study that found the median length of time between a test car’s prompt and the human taking over, even when the person in question was focused only on driving, was 4.56 seconds. Ouch.

The study, which used 26 male and female subjects aged between 20 and 52, saw each driver placed in an autonomous vehicle simulator set at 70mph. On the first run the driver focused only on the drive, but then on the second attempt read a newspaper instead.

Clearly, 4.56 seconds is more than enough time, if the situation turns critical, to have had a colossal accident before the human ever gets to grips with the situation.

And when the human was absorbed in a newspaper instead of focusing on the road, that median time figure rose to 6.06 seconds. If it was an emergency, the driver could be in trouble before even taking their reading glasses off.

What’s worse, the lowest recorded reaction times in the study were 21 and 26 seconds, and when you translate that into a car stomping completely unguided down the motorway, an accident could be inevitable.

Considering that 70mph is 102 feet per second, even the lowest median reaction time would mean 465ft being covered before any human intervention. Scary? We think so.

The conclusion of the research is that 4.5 seconds, or even six seconds, isn’t enough notice to give drivers in order to be fully safe. But how can drivers or passengers possibly expect to be given more advance notice than that before being asked to take the wheel?

It should be interesting to see where this goes, and how the law reflects personal responsibility. If humans in autonomous cars can’t relax and do other things without fearing for their lives, what’s the point at all?

Source: Autoblog