Is ADAS creating a new crop of incompetent drivers?

Could advanced driver-assistance systems which were invented for better safety be resulting in the exact opposite?

BHPian Bit recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

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

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

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 a 360/reverse camera. I had to assume the driver's 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.

A child of a relative is starting to learn to drive using his family car which is ADAS enabled and he is fully convinced that you 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 the 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 cause something exactly opposite and make things less safe? 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.

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

Interesting topic, but we cannot generalise it. 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 the 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.

Here's what BHPian Rajeevraj had to say on the matter:

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 may be people who only can drive automatics 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 mainstream, 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.

Here's what BHPian AKSarkar1 had to say on the matter:

It is not about ADAS making incompetent drivers, but 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 etiquette of the 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.

Here's what BHPian amg5610 had to say on the matter:

Good topic to debate.

I drive an ADAS-enabled '23 Verna and having driven it for the past 8 months and close to 12,000 km here's my two cents.

I daily my car to my University and back which is a 66km round trip of which more than half is in NH. I engage Adaptive Cruise Control when the roads are relatively free ie: Non-Peak hours usually in the afternoons. I set it at 80-85kmph in the middle lane on a 3-lane highway. It has been a real boon and has made daily drives easy and relaxed.

Has it made me less attentive while driving? Perhaps, not that I'm careless but it has made me relax a bit after a tiring day. One thing is for sure, I miss ACC more than anything when I get into some other car for a long drive.

Having transitioned from a non-ADAS car, at first all the sensor beeps, emergency braking etc made me feel overwhelmed and drove me nuts but after using it for a while, I can say I have adapted my driving style around ADAS and I don't feel the necessity to disable any feature even whilst driving around in the city. But when my friends get it the first thing they ask me to do is disable all these ADAS stuff and let them drive in peace.

Am I overdependent on this tech? Not really but having learnt driving only before/during lockdown I feel like some features such as a reversing camera, Power adjusted ORVM etc are necessary to me. A couple of months back my mum got assigned Bolero as an official vehicle and the circumstance made me drive it for 2-3 days, to chauffeur her from home to the office and back home, it took me some time to get used to bare bones back to basics vehicle and made me appreciate the modern-day tech and how it has made our drives easy and simple.

As for ADAS, I think the technology is the future proof and over time as it becomes more readily available there will be a greater awareness among drivers to use it as an assistance in a responsible manner.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.