Automatic Cruise Control

Pros

• Increases comfort and safety for the driver, is functional for long trips, and in turn optimizes fuel use and engine performance.
• It allows you to set and manipulate the speed more precisely, for which steering wheel controls are available.
• Considerably improves attention to the rest of the elements of the road and avoids both visual and physical effort that can occur in the driver.
• By maintaining safety distances and regulating speed, it improves traffic at an overall level, by generating a smoother drive (i.e., all vehicles traveling at same speed), all the while reducing accidents.
• This technology is becoming increasingly standard or optional in best-selling vehicles.

Cons

• Depending on where you drive, ACC can generate a type of relaxation on the part of the driver that can easily distract them (i.e., lower concentration on the driving task).
• Depends on the terrain and the qualities of the road for optimal performance.
• The effectiveness of automatic braking is not comparable to that of the brake pedal, which is why driver vigilance is required.
• If drivers can set the following distance, some of them may set it so they are too close to a vehicle in front of them increasing the risk of a rear end collision in case of a rapid necessity of takeover.