From the CDC:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that drowsy driving was responsible for 72,000 crashes, 44,000 injuries, and 800 deaths in 2013 However, these numbers are underestimated and up to 6,000 fatal crashes each year may be caused by drowsy drivers.
Assuming these folks didn’t end up in an accident, the driver automation, in this case, may well have prevented a serious accident, and possibly death of the driver, passenger, or others in the process.
Given that the car may have been capable of lane changes on its’ own (depending on settings), should the car have pulled off the road and stopped? Perhaps. Does more need to be done to detect and react to drowsy drivers in general, autonomy or no? Absolutely.
But there’s a non-zero chance the vehicle autonomy, in this case, may well have prevented injury or death.
