Researchers at Newcastle University have found that women are better at operating driverless cars than men. Research found that women display faster reaction times and more control over the wheel.
Women are also better at taking on driving of the vehicle when needed. Driverless cars allow people to completely disengage from driving and focus on non-driving tasks. But sometimes they may need to retake control of the vehicle.
The research was conducted by evaluating the simulator performance of 76 people (33 women and 43 men). The simulator gave participants 20 seconds to take back control of the vehicle. According to the study, men took an average of 2.63 seconds, while women only needed 2.45 seconds to retake control over the car. For moving out of the way of a parked car, women took an average of 13.52 seconds, while men took 13.76 seconds.
Dr Shuo Li, an intelligent transport systems expert at Newcastle, said: “Women often do not realise how good they are at driving, but our results found they actually perform slightly better.” Researchers say the study will help evaluate the design and usability of driverless cars.