#HTE

Assisted Driving Stinks. Also, Which Auto Safety Features Do You Love or Hate?

As I and others have argued before, when it comes to autonomous cars, “hand-off” is a terrible idea. I firmly believe that autonomous cars have to be all or nothing.

“Assisted driving” might seem like a good idea in the short term, but I believe it will prove to be a lousy idea in the long term, as it helps desensitize people to the act of driving, making them subconsciously rely on the safety net.

Thatcham Research, a nonprofit British auto insurance research center, put together this short video to disabuse viewers of the notion that they can rely on assisted driving to remain safe:

My own distaste for assisted driving means I don’t even use cruise control; I feel it is up to me, as the driver, to maintain the safety of myself and the motorists around me.

Blind spot warnings are neat, but can we rely on them 100%? When I owned a car I had a little adhesive-backed, curved plastic mirror that stuck to the sideview mirror and perfectly revealed the blind spot. That brilliant safety device cost me a couple of bucks and paid for itself countless times over.

The only techno-safety features I like:

- Backup cameras, since auto designers seem hellbent on fattening C-pillars, raising rear sills and generally obscuring rearward visibility.

- ABS brakes, because you can mash on them in the rain without fear of locking the tires.

What automated safety features do you, as drivers, like or dislike?