When drivers become passengers: the psychological impact of autonomous cars

Get in the car. Fasten your seat belt. Turn it on, and prepare to let the technology take over. You’re about to be driven where you need to go, and that time you used to spend checking your blind spots, weaving in and out of traffic and waiting at stop signs has been handed back to you.

Now what?

As the world gets closer to autonomous or self-driving vehicles, how we choose to occupy ourselves could have a major bearing on the speed at which we’re comfortable traveling. In fact, recent research from Imperial College London suggests the way in-car technology changes us from drivers to passengers needs to be carefully considered as a factor on road congestion.

In Autonomous cars: The tension between occupant experience and intersection capacity, a group of researchers conducted simulations of traffic patterns to see whether self-driving vehicles would really help make getting from A to B a little smoother. Though the study emphasizes the need for further research, it raises some uncomfortable questions about the influence of human psychology in making connected cars move faster or slower.

“Car passengers can perform a greater range of leisurely and productive tasks than car drivers, and they also appear to begin to experience feelings of discomfort at lower rates of acceleration than car drivers,” the study says. “Our findings suggest a tension in the short run between these two anticipated benefits (more productive use of travel time and increased network capacity), at least in certain circumstances.”

To read more : http://360.here.com/2015/02/09/drivers-become-passengers-psychological-impact-autonomous-cars/