[Bit]

With ADAS and automation getting traction with each new model, there are (and will be) an entire generation of drivers who learned driving on ADAS enabled vehicles only, thus relying solely on tech for even crucial functions such emergency braking and 360 viewing.

I'll state a couple of cases I witnessed myself:

1. A friend of mine got an XUV 700 from the first batch and incidentally, it was his first car. Although he's otherwise a good driver, he seems to completely forget that he even has a neck that can be used to look around. I was driving with him yesterday when his display/camera stopped working and for the love of god, he just could not park his car without 360/reverse camera. I had to assume the driver seat to park the car on all stoppages. I was kind of surprised to see he has completely lost the capability to park without the help of a camera.

2. A children of a relative is starting to learn driving using his family car which is ADAS enabled and he is fully convinced that you really do not need to be vigilant about emergency braking ever as the car will ALWAYS take care of it thus he barely keeps his foot on brake pedal. He said jokingly too "uncle braking purane zamane ki cheez ho gayi, ab nayi technology me hame mahnat karne ki zarurat nahi hai"


So, can something which was invented for BETTER safety can cause something exact opposite and make things less safer? Especially in a country like India where average people put more preference on tech, bells, and whistles with the common notion of "what safety"?

Keen to know the views here.

[GTO]

Interesting topic, but we cannot generalise. It's like saying smartphones are making everyone dumber, although the fact is, even a farmer with a 5000-rupee Android phone has access to more information than billionaires did in 1980.

Any technology is good or bad, depending on how you use it. Careful drivers will be careful. Careless drivers will be the same. In the latter case however, ADAS will hopefully decrease their odds of an accident.

That being said, manufacturers should do more to stress these are merely assistance systems. Many people depend on them blindly. Example = the many instances of Tesla drivers sleeping on AutoPilot. There were some videos of drivers being hands-off in the ADAS XUV700 too.

Furthermore, we should constantly remind ourselves of the same too. I have to admit there have been instances where I depended way too much on the reversing camera, and didn't look around enough, by turning back and screening things myself.

[Rajeevraj]

Personally do not think we can generalize. Every bit of technology that has come in has made our driving life easier. Right from things like electronic power steering, reverse camera and sensors, Automatic Transmissions, Park Assists, 360 cameras and now ADAS. Each one of these has made things easier for the driver. Making life easier I think cannot be equated to incompetency. Although there are enough people who will misunderstand and misuse any technological addition.

It is also natural that once you are used to a particular technology, then you may seem incompetent when driving a car without that tech. Example: If I am asked to drive a car without power steering I may struggle. Or there maybe people who only can drive automatics-If you ask them to drive a manual, they may not be able to. There will be people who cannot park without a reverse camera and sensors. ADAS just adds another couple of dimensions to it. The generation of drivers who are starting now with ADAS features becoming main stream, may not be able to drive without its aids.

So incompetent would be a wrong term to use in my view because if you remove the aids that any of us are now fully used to, we all become incompetent in some way.

[svsantosh]

Good debate thread.

It is like Zomato taking away the pleasure of home made papad, subzi and aachar. Or to sound more relatable the car itself took away walking and running and horse riding away from humans.

Same with old school accountants who wrote pages and pages for 3-4 decades for the same office and getting replaced with Excel and computers and big data and so on.

Tech is always going to innovate more and more, it is up to the individual to keep in touch with the grassroot skill and practice and hone it. As long as Tech eliminates bad, dangerous, non-value-add practices/habits, I am all for it.

ADAS - If it saves lives - 110% I want it.

[Sargent_dallas]

It’s an interesting topic. My response will depend on the driver. Growing up with cars that didn’t even have a reversing camera, I always trusted my mirrors and my drive defensively. It’s not the case with my wife. She got a ‘24 Jetta as her first car which has all the ADAS tech and whenever she reverses the car her instinct is to look in the infotainment screen for a reversing cam and depends on the rear-traffic alert warnings rather than trusting rear view mirrors and eyes: Frustrati

But with ADAS like emergency braking and Lane Assist, the chance of getting into fatal accidents is reduced but never zero.

[AKSarkar1]

It is not about ADAS making incompetent drivers, rather Incompetent Drivers making ADAS a joke. ADAS is a technology that will only become more mainstream in the years to come however there needs to be more training and information on these technologies from both the Govt and the car companies themselves.

I feel this is similar to the debate that we used to have in the early 90s when automatic cars were just becoming a thing for the masses in India, many people argued that automatic cars make bad drivers and the real skills come from manual cars (sounds funny enough right?).

India needs ADAS more than anything else, the driving skills and etiquettes of majority of the people are nothing but a joke. If a tech can bring more discipline and safety on the roads, I would argue that it is serving the opposite purpose of making someone incompetent.

[dragracer567]

It depends. For example, recently I tried backing up a car without any parking sensors and I found it really difficult to judge the distance and was extra careful. However, I can still park without a reverse camera or front parking sensors though I’m used to it now. It depends on what you are used to but also the driver’s competence. ADAS has been available in the west for a while now with all cars getting emergency braking, that hasn’t made the drivers there incompetent.

[dhanushs]

Infact, I'd like to not only address ADAS, but most of the automotive tech.

A classic example is Traction Control or Brake Limited Slip, or even ABS.. Earlier days, when none of these were part of your car, your driving needed to be wayyy more involved to maintain absolute control over your car. Now, with all these systems, you can just take a chill pill, point and shoot. Even a novice driver can perform/drive as good as an experienced. The gap has narrowed down.

For drivers who arent exposed to car without ABS, TC or Brake Limited Slip, they wont ever know how to drive in a way that your car is always in control.

Is that a bad thing? Well.. if you see driving as an absolute skill, YES. But, if you see Automobiles utilitarianism, moving you from A-B, it makes life a lot easier and safer. And when safety comes into the picture, even if the masses lose a bit of driving skill, it's better to be safe.

[Maverick Avi]

With every new innovation there would be gains and losses. Gains would mainly be around efficiency and comfort whereas losses would be something most people would happily overlook. Take any major innovation like for eg. invention of automobiles which though bought lot of positives but at the same time made us bad walkers.

Personally, now that I drive an automatic my driving has become very relaxed but at the same time I feel that my reaction time for braking has reduced due to my change in driving style. Does that make me a bad driver? Maybe yes specially when I actually need to brake hard but my overall relaxed driving style is also making my journeys safer and calm.

I would rather have an upgraded technology and enjoy it's benefits while it works rather than think about what will happen in the event it fails(tech should be proven reliable though)!!

[careind]

There are 10% of those intuitive drivers who don’t consider driving as a chore but an extension of their instincts and then there are 90% of those laborious drivers who sweat and swivel every time they sit on the driver seat.

The latter breed would definitely benefit more with ADAS as their burden is reduced . The former breed would see ADAS as an inferior crutch as they already have it hardwired in their brains.

Some of the ADAS features have been beneficial for me and the others , not that great.

AEB/LCA has made adjustments to my driving style for the better.
I am no longer inadvertently riding the rear of the vehicle in front as it starts beeping and applying brakes if we go too close.
I am habituated to using lane changing indicators every time, whether there are vehicles in the rear or not.

Personally I have mixed feeling using ACC as it is dependant on others’ style of driving on the highways, at least on the ones I take frequently.
We need to switch to manual to weave between two slow moving vehicles occupying parallel lanes.
It slows down if a car overtaking us cuts in front of us into the buffer zone, though the human brain knows that the other car is faster and doesn’t pose a threat.
I haven’t had the courage to see what ACC does when there are diversions on the road due to maintenance.
The need to constantly switch between ACC and manual on a highway with some slow moving traffic every now and then is exhausting to say the least.
And one queer thing I noticed was a series of slowdowns apparently for no reason. Then I figured out that whenever it encounters the “<<“ or “>>” sign, it slows down though we know that the car can take the curve at the current speed on a mostly unoccupied and free 6 lane road!

But overall, the pros out weigh the cons by a big margin and based on the sheer percentage of the non-instinctive drivers on the road, it is certainly beneficial.

[vijaykr]

Originally Posted by careind

AEB/LCA has made adjustments to my driving style for the better.
I am no longer inadvertently riding the rear of the vehicle in front as it starts beeping and applying brakes if we go too close.
I am habituated to using lane changing indicators every time, whether there are vehicles in the rear or not.

Yes, I agree fully and this has made me me aware to maintain the distance and be ready to apply brakes earlier than usual to avoid sudden auto-braking by the car itself

Originally Posted by careind

Personally I have mixed feeling using ACC as it is dependant on others’ style of driving on the highways, at least on the ones I take frequently.
We need to switch to manual to weave between two slow moving vehicles occupying parallel lanes.
It slows down if a car overtaking us cuts in front of us into the buffer zone, though the human brain knows that the other car is faster and doesn’t pose a threat.
I haven’t had the courage to see what ACC does when there are diversions on the road due to maintenance.
The need to constantly switch between ACC and manual on a highway with some slow moving traffic every now and then is exhausting to say the least.

My experience with ACC on highways has been less than satisfactory as well. There is frequently slow moving vehicles hogging lanes, or cars cutting across into my lane which causes ACC to slow my car. So mostly I don't use this feature any longer and rely on my awareness and ability. But if I'm feeling particularly in a good mood and don't mind the constant toggling between ACC and manual, I turn it on.

I have not tried using ACC with marked diversions. Combination of ACC, lane keep assist, road departure mitigation system might work, but I am leery of trying this on the road.

Originally Posted by careind

But overall, the pros out weigh the cons by a big margin and based on the sheer percentage of the non-instinctive drivers on the road, it is certainly beneficial.

100% in agreement with your comment. I'm happy that I went with a car that has ADAS than without.

[CarCar]

Originally Posted by careind

Personally I have mixed feeling using ACC as it is dependant on others’ style of driving on the highways, at least on the ones I take frequently.

Hi, had some trouble understanding certain sections. I thought ACC stood for Automatic Climate Control. What does it expand to here, please?

[graaja]

Originally Posted by CarCar

Hi, had some trouble understanding certain sections. I thought ACC stood for Automatic Climate Control. What does it expand to here, please?

ACC stands for Adaptive Cruise Control.

[Miel]

Didn't automatics cause us to be incompetent when presented with a manual ?
Didn't TPMS cause many to lose the discipline of topping up air every 2 weeks, and walking around the car checking the tyres before every drive?
Didn't modern engine cooling systems and maintenance-free batteries cause us to rarely open the hood and forget what else sat in the engine bay?

With every advancement in tech, we lose certain skills and gain some others. And ADAS's theoretical strides towards driver-less car does tend to aspire for a driver-less future. If so, how many would still know driving in such a world?

[Lobogris]

Not at all correct. ADAS level 2 is not self drive. Absolutely no one in their senses would rely on autonomous emergency braking. It doesn’t always work and even when it does, it can often only reduce the severity of a crash and not completely prevent one. So no one is going to rely on it for normal driving and braking. People might joke about it but no driver will actually rely on it. Adaptive cruise control works better but the driver often has to take over. So full attention is always required.