Design intent gets lost in translation: cooperative steering expectations and consumer willingness to steer with partial driving automation

November 2024

Introduction: Partially automated (Level 2) systems have design factors that may influence driver behavior, such as shared steering control (i.e., cooperative steering). A fundamental characteristic of cooperative steering is that the lane-centering support remains on while the driver steers within the lane. At the time this study was conducted, Ford and Nissan systems had this cooperative design philosophy, whereas Tesla and General Motors (GM) systems did not. Method: An online multimedia survey of 1,260 owners of Tesla, GM, Ford, and Nissan vehicles equipped with partial automation gave us insight into their understanding of their systems' cooperability. Results: We found that automaker design intent does not always translate into consumer understanding because most respondents, from all owner groups, thought their systems were cooperative. Likewise, many drivers with hands-on-required systems thought they could be used hands-free for extended periods, whereas some people with hands-free-capable systems thought they could not use their systems that way. Nevertheless, after presenting video-based driving situations that varied in hazardousness, we found that cooperability has a situation-specific influence. Specifically, cooperative-system owners were more likely to want to steer to the side of the lane in all scenarios and have their hands on the wheel than noncooperative-system owners in scenarios with a large vehicle present in the adjacent lane. Conclusion: Given the growing concern around driver disengagement and system misuse, our findings suggest that cooperative steering is not only a relatively intuitive design philosophy, but it also may help to maintain driver engagement.