AAA tests driver-monitoring systems, finds many lacking

Enlarge / Most people know they shouldn't check their phones while driving, but it's a hard habit to shake, particularly if you have a car fitted with an advanced driver assist that helps steer. (credit: Getty Images/miguelangelortega)

If you're going to install an advanced driver assistance system to let the person behind the wheel go hands-free, then you really ought to include a camera-based driver-monitoring system.

That's a key finding from a new study by the Automobile Association of America, which recently put a number of new cars to the test in order to find out whether monitoring systems are any good at preventing drivers from becoming disengaged. AAA also tested how easily those systems could be circumvented.

AAA tested four different cars fitted with an ADAS that qualified as "SAE level 2," meaning that, when activated, the system would steer the car and maintain its speed (slowing if the car in front slows), with the human in the driver's seat being required to provide situational awareness at all times. (Hence, the DMS to make sure that happens.)

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