Probably, but drowsiness doesn’t inevitably lead to being asleep - there are things that can be done to make it less likely, and things that make it more likely. My point here is that by being behind the wheel of a car with “autopilot” engaged, they radically increased their chances that they would end up asleep, even if it wasn’t a deliberate choice to take a nap. (Though they did make a series of deliberate choices that made it more likely.)
As a culture, we’re weirdly relaxed about driving while tired (because driving is so necessary and ubiquitous, and being tired so unavoidable), that we ignore how incredibly dangerous it is, and just accept that people are driving around so impaired they might as well be shit-faced drunk. As a result, people also tend to ignore best practices to prevent tiredness turning into drowsiness as they’re inconvenient or uncomfortable. Semi-autonomous systems make it much easier to ignore best practices.
