Consumer Reports is on the verge of releasing its 2022 list of automotive Top Picks and this year, for the first time, advanced driver monitoring systems are getting evaluated as to whether they do a good job of encouraging safe driving. Not every brand’s software makes the grade though and Tesla is notably left off of the list.
As driving assistance technology becomes better and more well-integrated there’s an uncomfortable transition happening. Some of the systems available right now are so good that they can lull drivers into a false sense of security. Humans, however, are notoriously bad at passively paying attention to something.
So when we hear of crashes involving technology like Tesla’s Full Self Driving, it’s often this combination of factors that come into play. Drivers get overly confident in the technology, lose attentiveness, and can’t correct a mistake quickly enough to avoid a collision. Consumer Reports is about to make a very clear delineation between different approaches to this problem.
They say that both General Motors’ SuperCruise technology and Ford’s BlueCruise are on a safer path to self-driving cars and are the only brands that will get a couple of extra points in their 2022 Top Picks results. Jake Fisher, senior director of CR’s Auto Test Center, said that “GM’s Super Cruise and now Ford’s BlueCruise both have the right combination of helping drivers enjoy the convenience of automation while verifying that they’re keeping their eyes on the road.”
What is it that they’re doing right? And why didn’t Tesla make the grade? CR says it all comes down to driver monitoring. Both Ford and General Motors use intensive driver monitoring features that actively encourage the person behind the wheel to pay attention. In fact, they sound pretty aggressive.
During independent testing, CR found that GM products using SuperCruise will alert the driver to pay more attention multiple times and ultimately slow and stop the vehicle if the driver doesn’t follow commands. BlueCruise behaved similarly and even went so far as to stab the brakes to “jolt” the driver into attention if the system felt it was warranted.
Neither SuperCruise nor BlueCruise will function if the camera responsible for driver monitoring is covered. That’s not the case in a Tesla where Autopilot v11.0 will continue to function while the camera is fully covered. In fact, they found that as long as the driver kept their hands on the wheel, the system wouldn’t warn them about keeping their eyes on the road at all.
Consumer Reports says that in the future, they’ll actually start detracting points for systems that fail to adequately keep driver’s attention on the road. This is a bold move to demand more accountability from automakers. Time will tell if they respond to the call.