The autopilot paradox: public perception of sleeping while driving semi-automated cars

Sleeping while driving is a cognitive-based distracted driving caused by tiredness and drowsiness. The public considers sleeping while driving a dangerous act due to the driver’s inability to control the vehicle. In recent years, the advancement of technology has resulted in vehicles with different levels of autonomy that can perform various activities such as steering, changing lanes, braking and stopping. Such situations cause the drivers to have fewer driving activities and make them more likely to fall asleep. This study explored the public sentiments on incidents involving drivers falling asleep in autopilot-enabled vehicles. The study applied text mining on 14,954 comments from seven YouTube videos posted between 2016 and 2021. It was found that the public showed more positive than negative reactions, trust than fear and relatively higher anticipation sentiments on the drivers sleeping in vehicles with autopilot-enabled mode. The public used various keywords such as safe, fully automated, trust, good, lane change and cruise control to indicate their trust in the autopilot mode. The public comments showed their understanding of the law that requires the driver’s hands to be on the steering wheel when the vehicle is in autopilot mode. Furthermore, a significant number of comments pointed toward fear, mentioning the likelihood of crashes and the legality of the act. The public, however, fails to differentiate between autopilot and automated mode. These findings highlight the potential need for changes in laws and regulations to align with public expectations as the adoption of automated vehicles continues to grow.