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Since the shocking news of the death of a driver of the Tesla Model S which was running on autopilot driver assistance system, the technology has triggered an intense debate. The regulators are currently investigating the crash so they can determine if the problem was with the driver of the car or the autopilot or even a combination of both.

An agency with expertise on this technology has been brought in on the matter. NASA has been examining all the psychological effects of automation for some decades now and should have something to teach the car manufacturer as noted by Scientific American.

A research psychologist with NASA, Stephen Casner told the magazine that cars in 2017 are equal to airplanes in 1983. He also said that for the public, the autopilot term seems to mean a similarity to automated systems which help fly planes even though the capabilities of the Model S systems are more limited.

The autopilot of Tesla is more similar to the packages of driver-assistance features provided by other carmakers than a real semi-autonomous system. Even though autopilot is capable of more, NASA’s Casner brought out a significant difference between the operation of airplanes and cars that make the use a lot riskier.

The autopilot system momentarily takes the human driver out of the control loop and the switch back to human control doesn’t happen immediately. However, since airplanes fly in the sky, pilots have a minute to make the shift from autopilot to manual control.

This isn’t the case with vehicles where the drivers have a second to react to emergency situations. NASA also stated that humans have problems paying attention when they use automated systems. When the autopilot system is more proficient, the driver is more likely to lose concentration.