Loaded with cameras, sensors and computing power, the cars’
performances have been, in tests, more sharp and consistent than human drivers
without fear of drowsiness, drunkenness or distraction.
Yet the tension comes from a puzzling inconsistency traced in a
survey by AutoTrader.com, which found that although most Americans say they are
unnerved about ceding total control to a driverless car, they are happy to pay
for all the piecemeal upgrades on which that car is built.
“When polls ask about driverless cars, people are nervous,
they’re fearful,” said Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst with AutoTrader. “But
when you ask them about all these individual technologies — lane assist, help
parking — they say, yeah, we want all those.”
Researchers at HERE, a Nokia offshoot building maps for
self-driving cars, also found a similar impression in surveys. Drivers still
believe that cars make their lives easier, more free, more fun — though they
also crave the next big thing, even if it weirds them out.
Industry officials acknowledge that self-driving cars may never
be universally accepted by drivers, especially those who value being in control
of their car. In the self-driving mode of Mercedes’ F 015 concept car, for
instance, passengers can’t steer or brake and can use a touch-screen to request
the car to speed up or slow down — but only if the car thinks that’s a good
idea.
But engineers have made efforts to make the driverless
technology act more familiar and human. In some earlier Volvos, for instance,
the automatic brakes allowed such a wide and safe distance from the car ahead
that the feature annoyed many drivers, who ended up disengaging it altogether.
The updated feature stops the car far closer, Volvo technology
spokesman Jim Nichols said, in hopes that “the driver doesn’t have the desire
to turn the feature off.”
Where the cars once made their decisions silently, they have
begun to sound out their thinking in ways that drivers can understand. Cars
will now explain their sudden slowing by saying, for instance, “Crosswalk
ahead,” and dashboard screens will show directions and obstacles such as
construction or broken-down vehicles.
But they are also designed not to be overly obtrusive. If too many unsignaled
lane changes or other errors lead the safety system in Volvo’s newer S60 sedans
to believe its driver is losing attentiveness, the car’s dashboard will flash a
coffee cup and the words, “Time for a break.”
For the XC90, Volvo’s “semi-driverless” crossover SUV, sound
engineers measured drivers’ reaction times and led focus groups in several
countries to gauge which of a series of specialized chimes showed the
“appropriate urgency.”
The big question: Should warning sounds be calming and subtle,
to not shock the passenger, or shrill and insistent, to underscore how
important it is for the computer to take the wheel?
The answer, Nichols said, was both. The car was given
“psychoacoustic design elements” to heighten drivers’ focus on their
surroundings when necessary, while less-urgent sounds were designed to be “much
more calming, almost a melody.”
Automakers’ worry over the mixed feelings about driverless
technology has kept several big safety improvements off American roads.
In Europe, Ford sells cars with sign-reading “Intelligent Speed
Limiters” that ensure drivers can’t sail above the speed limit. Yet despite the
safety benefits, Ford has not rolled the technology onto American roads because
of concerns that drivers here may simply steer clear.
“There’s not a technical impediment,” said Alan Hall, a Ford
spokesman. “The most important part is if they’re willing to pay for it.”
Ultimately, car companies and their engineers hope the benefits
of driverless technology, which offers a relief from the annoyances of highway
commutes and heavy traffic, will persuade buyers to let go of the wheel.
“Today, when you sit in a car, it doesn’t feel like freedom. You
feel frustrated. What you’d rather do, you can’t do, because you’re stuck in a
traffic jam,” said Erik Coelingh, a Volvo senior technical leader in Sweden.
“I don’t know if it’s old-fashioned, but we still think it’s a
lot of fun to drive a car. For many customers that . . . is really important. We don’t want to
take that away.”
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