If your vehicle has adaptive cruise control and lane-centering technology, it is equipped with "partial automation" capabilities, often known as Pilot Assist.
But the features that control your speed and help maintain your lane, designed for increased safety, may also lead to dangerous behavior by motorists.
New research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found as drivers become more comfortable with the technology, they tend to lose focus and show signs of disengagement while on the road. IIHS Senior Research Scientist Ian Reagan said, "Drivers were more than twice as likely to show signs of disengagement after a month of using Pilot Assist compared with the beginning of the study. Compared with driving manually, they were more than 12 times as likely to take both hands off the wheel after they'd gotten used to how the lane-centering worked."
As Reagan pointed out, Pilot Assist and similar systems are not designed to replace the driver. He discussed the latest study with KRLD's Chris Sommer.