Study: Assisted driving tech increases anti-social road behaviour

The number of safety assistants built into cars is steadily growing, and yet our driving style changes when we assume the software will intervene before we make certain mistakes. Photo: dpa

Park assist, automatic distance control, pre-crash warnings: Driver assistance systems are above all designed to increase road safety, and yet new research suggests an over-reliance on digital aids could be leading people to drive more recklessly.

Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States say the move to machine-aided driving appears not only to be adding to behind-the-wheel tensions, but could be making people even less cooperative in traffic.