Will Driverless Cars Increase Distracted Driving?

November 24th, 2013  |  Insurance

We are hearing more and more about the driverless car and how it is starting to become less of abstract idea and more of a real possibility in the near future. There are many auto manufacturers that already have functioning prototypes of driverless cars that are ready to hit the streets. Even Google has a driverless car .

While the use of driverless cars on our roadways is still a few years off, and while it is a cool concept, many people are still only lukewarm about the idea of giving up control of their car to a robot.

But, perhaps an even bigger question to pose is will driverless cars increase instances of distracted driving?

Whether distracted driving will be an issue with driverless cars will be dependent on many factors, such as how autonomous these cars will actually be. If drivers are still required to oversee the operation of the vehicle, does being a passive driver not open the door to many drivers paying less attention on the road?

It is not outrageous to think that many drivers would consider driving an autonomous car as a chance to catch up on emails, text their friends, or even surfing the web. People already do that while driving their cars today, so it’s not a stretch to think that this could be the attitude drivers have in a driverless car.

Only time will tell!

What do you think? Will driverless cars increase distracted driving? What kind of impact do you think it will have on the growing problem of distracted drivers?