You might want to think twice before turning on your self-driving system on the highway.
Most semi-automated driving systems, which typically include things like cruise control, cooperative steering, and obstacle monitoring, received poor ratings in a series of tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an independent safety testing organization.
“While some drivers may find that partial automation makes driving long distances easier, there is little evidence that it makes driving safer,” agency chief David Harkey said in a statement. As many high-profile outages have shown, new risks can arise when systems do not have adequate protections in place.
The company tested 14 systems, 11 of which received an overall security rating of "weak". Those 11 include Tesla's Autopilot — the electric carmaker's traditional highway system — and its "fully driverless" system that works on city and suburban roads.
Tests of "full self-driving" -- a feature that was available in beta to about 400,000 Tesla drivers until last month -- were very mixed, with only two categories receiving "acceptable" and "good" ratings.
The system features driver monitoring (detects when the driver takes their hands off the steering wheel) and adaptive cruise control, which checks whether the cruise control continues to function while the driver's attention is diverted from the road. That wasn't enough.
Meanwhile, Tesla's internal cameras are out and about to ensure drivers' attention.
The Tesla also received poor marks for the way it handles shared steering (how easy it is to avoid obstacles and potholes without activating the system) and how it disables safety features.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment before publication.
Last year, the company recalled more than two million vehicles over similar Autopilot concerns stemming from an ongoing investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. CNN reported that safety reporting tests were conducted before the recall.
Several lawsuits against Tesla allege that Autopilot caused various accidents, some of which were fatal.
Despite the controversy surrounding self-driving features, Tesla is far from the only automaker to receive a low safety rating.
Ford, Genesis, and Mercedes-Benz's automated driving systems also received a "poor" rating. Nissan and General Motors' systems were rated Marginal, while Lexus' Teammate system (available on the 2022-24 LS) was the only "acceptable" system.
The agency did not give either system an overall "good" security rating.
A Genesis spokeswoman said the company was "aware" of its rating, citing the company's status as a "top performer" in the Insurance Institute's safety ratings. He said Genesis will introduce an interior camera in its future models.
A Ford spokesman described the company's Blue Cruise technology as a "very effective driver monitoring system" and said, "While we disagree with the IIHS's findings, we will consider their feedback as we continue to evaluate future updates." he added.
The other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment before publication.
Despite safety concerns, self-driving cars are becoming a reality. California lawmakers approved the expansion of self-driving taxi company Waymo into Los Angeles and San Francisco earlier this month.
Waymo, owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, claims data shows its vehicles are statistically safer than human drivers.
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