Self-driving cars may tax our brains more than driving
In a new book, a UK engineering psychology expert says sitting in the driver's seat of a self-driving car may be more taxing for our brains than actually driving a traditional car. That's because we constantly have to monitor what's happening in a self-driving car, without any feedback from the car itself, and be ready to intervene at a moment's notice should the vehicle start behaving dangerously. This places unprecedented psychological demands on drivers – demands our brains are ill-prepared for, he says. He also highlights that designers, regulators, and users of automated systems do not take the psychological load of monitoring their systems and intervening when needed into account in their designs. Self-driving cars should not be abandoned, he concludes, but we need a fundamental rethink on how they're designed and introduced to drivers.
