scholarly journals Does a Confidence Level for Automated Driving Time Estimations Improve the Subjective Evaluation of an Automation HMI?

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Tobias Hecht ◽  
Simon Danner ◽  
Alexander Feierle ◽  
Klaus Bengler
Keyword(s):  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Mixed Design ◽  
Automated Driving ◽  
Traffic Conditions ◽  
Driving Time ◽  
Level 3 ◽  
Machine Interface ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Current research in human factors and automated driving is increasingly focusing on predictable transitions instead of urgent and critical take-overs. Predictive human–machine interface (HMI) elements displaying the remaining time until the next request to intervene were identified as a user need, especially when the user is engaging in non-driving related activities (NDRA). However, these estimations are prone to errors due to changing traffic conditions and updated map-based information. Thus, we investigated a confidence display for Level 3 automated driving time estimations. Based on a preliminary study, a confidence display resembling a mobile phone connectivity symbol was developed. In a mixed-design driving simulator study with 32 participants, we assessed the impact of the confidence display concept (within factor) on usability, frustration, trust and acceptance during city and highway automated driving (between factor). During automated driving sections, participants engaged in a naturalistic visual NDRA to create a realistic scenario. Significant effects were found for the scenario: participants in the city experienced higher levels of frustration. However, the confidence display has no significant impact on the subjective evaluation and most participants preferred the baseline HMI without a confidence symbol.

scholarly journals Improving Usefulness of Automated Driving by Lowering Primary Task Interference through HMI Design

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederik Naujoks ◽  
Yannick Forster ◽  
Katharina Wiedemann ◽  
Alexandra Neukum
Keyword(s):  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Automated Driving ◽  
Task Interference ◽  
Driving System ◽  
Lane Changes ◽  
Speech Output ◽  
Driving Time ◽  
Standard Information ◽  
Machine Interface

During conditionally automated driving (CAD), driving time can be used for non-driving-related tasks (NDRTs). To increase safety and comfort of an automated ride, upcoming automated manoeuvres such as lane changes or speed adaptations may be communicated to the driver. However, as the driver’s primary task consists of performing NDRTs, they might prefer to be informed in a nondistracting way. In this paper, the potential of using speech output to improve human-automation interaction is explored. A sample of 17 participants completed different situations which involved communication between the automation and the driver in a motion-based driving simulator. The Human-Machine Interface (HMI) of the automated driving system consisted of a visual-auditory HMI with either generic auditory feedback (i.e., standard information tones) or additional speech output. The drivers were asked to perform a common NDRT during the drive. Compared to generic auditory output, communicating upcoming automated manoeuvres additionally by speech led to a decrease in self-reported visual workload and decreased monitoring of the visual HMI. However, interruptions of the NDRT were not affected by additional speech output. Participants clearly favoured the HMI with additional speech-based output, demonstrating the potential of speech to enhance usefulness and acceptance of automated vehicles.

scholarly journals The Effects of a Predictive HMI and Different Transition Frequencies on Acceptance, Workload, Usability, and Gaze Behavior during Urban Automated Driving

Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Hecht ◽  
Stefan Kratzert ◽  
Klaus Bengler
Keyword(s):  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Transition Frequency ◽  
Gaze Behavior ◽  
Automated Driving ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Level 3 ◽  
Machine Interface ◽  
Time Critical ◽  
New Applications ◽  
Study Questionnaire

Automated driving research as a key topic in the automotive industry is currently undergoing change. Research is shifting from unexpected and time-critical take-over situations to human machine interface (HMI) design for predictable transitions. Furthermore, new applications like automated city driving are getting more attention and the ability to engage in non-driving related activities (NDRA) starting from SAE Level 3 automation poses new questions to HMI design. Moreover, future introduction scenarios and automated capabilities are still unclear. Thus, we designed, executed, and assessed a driving simulator study focusing on the effect of different transition frequencies and a predictive HMI while freely engaging in naturalistic NDRA. In the study with 33 participants, we found transition frequency to have effects on workload and acceptance, as well as a small impact on the usability evaluation of the system. Trust, however, was not affected. The predictive HMI was used and accepted, as can be seen by eye-tracking data and the post-study questionnaire, but could not mitigate the above-mentioned negative effects induced by transition frequency. Most attractive activities were window gazing, chatting, phone use, and reading magazines. Descriptively, window gazing and chatting gained attractiveness when interrupted more often, while reading magazines and playing games were negatively affected by transition rate.

scholarly journals Context-Adaptive Availability Notifications for an SAE Level 3 Automation

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Simon Danner ◽  
Alexander Feierle ◽  
Carina Manger ◽  
Klaus Bengler
Keyword(s):  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Human Machine Interface ◽  
Gaze Behavior ◽  
Activation Time ◽  
Automated Driving ◽  
Driving Function ◽  
The Road ◽  
Level 3 ◽  
Machine Interface ◽  
Simulator Study

Context-adaptive functions are not new in the driving context, but even so, investigations into these functions concerning the automation human–machine interface (aHMI) have yet to be carried out. This study presents research into context-adaptive availability notifications for an SAE Level 3 automation in scenarios where participants were surprised by either availability or non-availability. For this purpose, participants (N = 30) took part in a driving simulator study, experiencing a baseline HMI concept as a comparison, and a context-adaptive HMI concept that provided context-adaptive availability notifications with the aim of improving acceptance and usability, while decreasing frustration (due to unexpected non-availability) and gaze deviation from the road when driving manually. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that participants, when experiencing the context-adaptive HMI, would activate the automated driving function more quickly when facing unexpected availability. None of the hypotheses could be statistically confirmed; indeed, where gaze behavior was concerned, the opposite effects were found, indicating increased distraction induced by the context-adaptive HMI. However, the trend in respect to the activation time was towards shorter times with the context-adaptive notifications. These results led to the conclusion that context-adaptive availability notifications might not always be beneficial for users, while more salient availability notifications in the case of an unexpected availability could be advantageous.

scholarly journals Takeover Requests in Highly Automated Truck Driving: How Do the Amount and Type of Additional Information Influence the Driver–Automation Interaction?

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie T. Richardson ◽  
Lukas Flohr ◽  
Britta Michel
Keyword(s):  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Situational Awareness ◽  
Automated Driving ◽  
Human Machine Interaction ◽  
Transport Efficiency ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Level 3 ◽  
Driving Task ◽  
Machine Interface ◽  
Vehicle Automation

Vehicle automation is linked to various benefits, such as increase in fuel and transport efficiency as well as increase in driving comfort. However, automation also comes with a variety of possible downsides, e.g., loss of situational awareness, loss of skills, and inappropriate trust levels regarding system functionality. Drawbacks differ at different automation levels. As highly automated driving (HAD, level 3) requires the driver to take over the driving task in critical situations within a limited period of time, the need for an appropriate human–machine interface (HMI) arises. To foster adequate and efficient human–machine interaction, this contribution presents a user-centered, iterative approach for HMI evaluation of highly automated truck driving. For HMI evaluation, a driving simulator study [n = 32] using a dynamic truck driving simulator was conducted to let users experience the HMI in a semi-real driving context. Participants rated three HMI concepts, differing in their informational content for HAD regarding acceptance, workload, user experience, and controllability. Results showed that all three HMI concepts achieved good to very good results in these measures. Overall, HMI concepts offering more information to the driver about the HAD system showed significantly higher ratings, depicting the positive effect of additional information on the driver–automation interaction.

scholarly journals Repeated Usage of an L3 Motorway Chauffeur: Change of Evaluation and Usage

Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Metz ◽  
Johanna Wörle ◽  
Michael Hanig ◽  
Marcus Schmitt ◽  
Aaron Lutz
Keyword(s):  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Automated Driving ◽  
Driving Function ◽  
Behavioural Adaptation ◽  
The Road ◽  
Driving Time ◽  
Level 3 ◽  
Simulator Study ◽  
First Contact ◽  
Highly Automated Driving

Most studies on users’ perception of highly automated driving functions are focused on first contact/single usage. Nevertheless, it is expected that with repeated usage, acceptance and usage of automated driving functions might change this perception (behavioural adaptation). Changes can occur in drivers’ evaluation, in function usage and in drivers’ reactions to take-over situations. In a driving simulator study, N = 30 drivers used a level 3 (L3) automated driving function for motorways during six experimental sessions. They were free to activate/deactivate that system as they liked and to spend driving time on self-chosen side tasks. Results already show an increase of experienced trust and safety, together with an increase of time spent on side tasks between the first and fourth sessions. Furthermore, attention directed to the road decreases with growing experience with the system. The results are discussed with regard to the theory of behavioural adaptation. Results indicate that the adaptation of acceptance and usage of the highly automated driving function occurs rather quickly. At the same time, no behavioural adaptation for the reaction to take-over situations could be found.

scholarly journals Information Needs and Visual Attention during Urban, Highly Automated Driving—An Investigation of Potential Influencing Factors

Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Feierle ◽  
Simon Danner ◽  
Sarah Steininger ◽  
Klaus Bengler
Keyword(s):  
Visual Attention ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Automation System ◽  
Automated Driving ◽  
Navigation Data ◽  
Levels Of Automation ◽  
Machine Interface ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Highly Automated Driving

During highly automated driving, the passenger is allowed to conduct non-driving related activities (NDRA) and no longer has to act as a fallback at the functional limits of the driving automation system. Previous research has shown that at lower levels of automation, passengers still wish to be informed about automated vehicle behavior to a certain extent. Due to the aim of the introduction of urban automated driving, which is characterized by high complexity, we investigated the information needs and visual attention of the passenger during urban, highly automated driving. Additionally, there was an investigation into the influence of the experience of automated driving and of NDRAs on these results. Forty participants took part in a driving simulator study. As well as the information presented on the human–machine interface (system status, navigation information, speed and speed limit), participants requested information about maneuvers, reasons for maneuvers, environmental settings and additional navigation data. Visual attention was significantly affected by the NDRA, while the experience of automated driving had no effect. Experience and NDRA showed no significant effect on the need for information. Differences in information needs seem to be due to the requirements of the individual passenger, rather than the investigated factors.

Attentive User Interfaces to Improve Multitasking and Take-Over Performance in Automated Driving

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 40-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Wintersberger ◽  
Clemens Schartmüller ◽  
Andreas Riener
Keyword(s):  
User Interfaces ◽  
Lead Time ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Handheld Devices ◽  
Automated Vehicles ◽  
Automated Driving ◽  
Level 3 ◽  
Traffic Systems ◽  
Consumer Devices ◽  
Positive Effect

Automated vehicles promise engagement in side activities, but demand drivers to resume vehicle control in Take-Over situations. This pattern of alternating tasks thus becomes an issue of sequential multitasking, and it is evident that random interruptions result in a performance drop and are further a source of stress/anxiety. To counteract such drawbacks, this article presents an attention-aware architecture for the integration of consumer devices in level-3/4 vehicles and traffic systems. The proposed solution can increase the lead time for transitions, which is useful to determine suitable timings (e.g., between tasks/subtasks) for interruptions in vehicles. Further, it allows responding to Take-Over-Requests directly on handheld devices in emergencies. Different aspects of the Attentive User Interface (AUI) concept were evaluated in two driving simulator studies. Results, mainly based on Take-Over performance and physiological measurements, confirm the positive effect of AUIs on safety and comfort. Consequently, AUIs should be implemented in future automated vehicles.

scholarly journals Investigating the Impacts of Road Traffic Conditions and Driver’s Characteristics on Automated Vehicle Takeover Time and Quality Using a Driving Simulator

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Jaehyun Jason So ◽  
Sungho Park ◽  
Jonghwa Kim ◽  
Jejin Park ◽  
Ilsoo Yun
Keyword(s):  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Vehicle Control ◽  
Automated Vehicles ◽  
Automated Driving ◽  
Automated Vehicle ◽  
The Road ◽  
Traffic Conditions ◽  
Vehicle System ◽  
Driver’S Characteristics

This study investigates the impacts of road traffic conditions and driver’s characteristics on the takeover time in automated vehicles using a driving simulator. Automated vehicles are barely expected to maintain their fully automated driving capability at all times based on the current technologies, and the automated vehicle system transfers the vehicle control to a driver when the system can no longer be automatically operated. The takeover time is the duration from when the driver requested the vehicle control transition from the automated vehicle system to when the driver takes full control of the vehicle. This study assumes that the takeover time can vary according to the driver’s characteristics and the road traffic conditions; the assessment is undertaken with various participants having different characteristics in various traffic volume conditions and road geometry conditions. To this end, 25 km of the northbound road section between Osan Interchange and Dongtan Junction on Gyeongbu Expressway in Korea is modeled in the driving simulator; the experiment participants are asked to drive the vehicle and take a response following a certain triggering event in the virtual driving environment. The results showed that the level of service and road curvature do not affect the takeover time itself, but they significantly affect the stabilization time, that is, a duration for a driver to become stable and recover to a normal state. Furthermore, age affected the takeover time, indicating that aged drivers are likely to slowly respond to a certain takeover situation, compared to the younger drivers. With these findings, this study emphasizes the importance of having effective countermeasures and driver interface to monitor drivers in the automated vehicle system; therefore, an early and effective alarm system to alert drivers for the vehicle takeover can secure enough time for stable recovery to manual driving and ultimately to achieve safety during the takeover.

Influence of Prior General Knowledge on Older Adults’ Takeover Performance and Attitude Toward Using Conditionally Automated Driving Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 1327-1331
Author(s):  
Huiping Zhou ◽  
Makoto Itoh ◽  
Satoshi Kitazaki
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Full Range ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Limited Range ◽  
General Knowledge ◽  
Automated Driving ◽  
Subjective Evaluations ◽  
Positive Attitudes

This study aims to investigate the influence of general knowledge, which denotes·driving automation’s taxonomy, definitions, function, driver role, and the request to intervene (RtI), on older adults’ takeover performance when using conditionally driving automation (DA), and to clarify the influence of knowledge on drivers’ attitudes toward DA. We introduced two types of DAs: full range and limited range. A driving simulator (DS) experiment was conducted to collect data, including driving behavior in taking over vehicle control and driver’s subjective evaluation of the DA. Data were collected from 36 elderly (mean age = 71.4±4.8 years) and 36 non-elderly (mean age = 40.8±9.5 years) participants. The results showed significant differences between the elderly and non-elderly, such that educating knowledge had a greater influence on the older adults, that is, instructing knowledge to the drivers contributed to a statistical increase in successful takeover rate from 0.66 to 0.80, but no effect was seen on either the response time or the maximum steering angular velocity. Furthermore, more frequent glance behavior of looking forward from a non-driving related task was observed in the educated groups. Self-rating scores of subjective evaluations revealed that older adults who were given the knowledge had a higher level of trust in and expectation from the DA, and more confidence in comprehending system functions. This study demonstrates the necessity of general knowledge instruction to enhance drivers’ positive attitudes toward DA.

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