Origo Steering Wheel: Improving Tactile Feedback for Steering Wheel IVIS Interaction using Embedded Haptic Wave Guides and Constructive Wave Interference

Automotive industry is evolving through “Electrification”, “Autonomous Driving Systems”, and “Ride Sharing”, and all three vectors of change are taking place in the same timeframe. One of the key challenges during this transition will be to present critical information collected through additional onboard systems, to the driver and passengers, enhancing multimodal in-vehicle interaction. In this research authors suggest creating embedded tactile-feedback zones on the steering wheel itself, which can be used to relay haptic signals to the driver with little to no visual demand. Using “Haptic Mediation” techniques such as 3D-printed Embedded Haptic Waveguides (EHWs) and Constructive Wave Interference (CWI), the authors were able to provide reliable tactile feedback in normal driving environments. Signal analysis shows that EHWs and CWI can reduce haptic signal distortion and attenuation in noisy environments and during user testing, this technique yielded better driving performance and required lower cognitive load while completing common IVIS tasks.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

The Hazard Potential of Non-Driving-Related Tasks in Conditionally Automated Driving

Today, humans and machines successfully interact in a multitude of scenarios. Facilitated by advancements in artificial intelligence, increasing driving automation may allow drivers to focus on non-driving-related tasks (NDRTs) during the automated ride. However, conditionally automated driving as a transitional state between human-operated driving and fully automated driving requires drivers to take over control of the vehicle whenever requested. Thus, the productive use of driving time might come at the cost of increased traffic safety risks due to insufficient and insecure human-vehicle interaction. This study aims to explore the take-over performance and risk potential of different NDRTs (auditory task, visual task on regular display, visual task with mixed reality hardware) while driving. Our study indicates the hazard potential of visual vs. auditory distraction and multitasking vs. sequential tasking. Our findings contribute to understanding what influences the acceptance and adoption of automated driving and inform the design of safe vehicle-human take-overs

Automated driving: A literature review of the take over request in conditional automation

This article belongs to the Special Issue Autonomous Vehicles TechnologyIn conditional automation (level 3), human drivers can hand over the Driving Dynamic Task (DDT) to the Automated Driving System (ADS) and only be ready to resume control in emergency situations, allowing them to be engaged in non-driving related tasks (NDRT) whilst the vehicle operates within its Operational Design Domain (ODD). Outside the ODD, a safe transition process from the ADS engaged mode to manual driving should be initiated by the system through the issue of an appropriate Take Over Request (TOR). In this case, the driver's state plays a fundamental role, as a low attention level might increase driver reaction time to take over control of the vehicle. This paper summarizes and analyzes previously published works in the field of conditional automation and the TOR process. It introduces the topic in the appropriate context describing as well a variety of concerns that are associated with the TOR. It also provides theoretical foundations on implemented designs, and report on concrete examples that are targeted towards designers and the general public. Moreover, it compiles guidelines and standards related to automation in driving and highlights the research gaps that need to be addressed in future research, discussing also approaches and limitations and providing conclusions.This work was funded by the Austrian Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation, and Technology (BMK) Endowed Professorship for Sustainable Transport Logistics 4.0; the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness under the TRA201563708-R and TRA2016-78886-C3-1-R project; open access funding by the Johannes Kepler University Linz

From Manual Driving to Automated Driving: A Review of 10 Years of AutoUI

This paper gives an overview of the ten-year devel- opment of the papers presented at the International ACM Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications (AutoUI) from 2009 to 2018. We categorize the topics into two main groups, namely, manual driving-related research and automated driving-related re- search. Within manual driving, we mainly focus on studies on user interfaces (UIs), driver states, augmented reality and head-up displays, and methodology; Within automated driv- ing, we discuss topics, such as takeover, acceptance and trust, interacting with road users, UIs, and methodology. We also discuss the main challenges and future directions for AutoUI and offer a roadmap for the research in this area.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153959/1/From Manual Driving to Automated Driving: A Review of 10 Years of AutoUI.pdfDescription of From Manual Driving to Automated Driving: A Review of 10 Years of AutoUI.pdf : Main articl

Safe and seamless transfer of control authority - exploring haptic shared control during handovers

This research aimed at investigating the impact of lateral assistance systems on drivers' performance and behaviour during transitions from Highly Automated Driving (HAD). The thesis focused on non-critical transitions and analysed the differences between system and user-initiated transitions. Hence, two experiments were developed and conducted in driving simulators to address questions relating to how handover procedures, which provide varying levels of lateral assistance, affect drivers' performance and behaviour at different stages of the transition. In particular, it was investigated which type of assistance yields better results depending on who initiated the transition of control. Drivers were induced to be Out-Of-The-Loop (OOTL) during periods of HAD and then exposed to both system and user-initiated transitions. Results showed that after user-initiated transitions, drivers were generally more engaged with the steering task and the provided assistance was not helpful and, in some cases, caused steering conflicts and a comfort drop. On the contrary, after system-initiated transitions, drivers were not engaged with the steering control and were more prone to gaze wandering. Strong lateral assistance proved to be most beneficial within the first 5 seconds of the transition, when drivers were not committed to the steering control. The provision of assistance at an operational level, namely when drivers had to keep the lane centre, was not enough to ensure good performance at a tactical level. Drivers were able to cope with tactical tasks, presented as lane changes, only after around 10 seconds from the start of the transitions in both user and system initiated cases (Chapter 3 and Chapter 4). The introduction of non-continuous lateral assistance, used to trigger steering conflicts and, in turn, a faster steering engagement, did not yield particular benefits during user-initiated transitions but it might have triggered a faster re-engagement process in system-initiated ones (Chapter 5). The results suggest that assisting drivers after user-initiated transitions is not advisable as the assistance might induce steering conflicts. On the contrary, it is extremely beneficial to assist drivers during system-initiated transitions because of their low engagement with the driving task. The thesis concludes with a general overview of the conducted studies and a discussion on future studies to take this research forward

Tâche secondaire et conscience de l'environnement, une application mobile pour véhicule semi-autonome

National audienceAutonomous vehicles are developing rapidly and will lead to a significant change in the driver's role: he/she will have to move from the role of actor to the role of supervisor. Indeed, the driver will soon be able to perform a secondary task but he/she must be able to take over control in the event of a critical situation that is not managed by the autonomous system. This implies that the role of new interfaces and interactions within the vehicle is important to take into account. This article describes the design of an application that provides the driver with information about the environment perceived by his/her vehicle in the form of modules. This application is displayed as split screen on a tablet by which a secondary task can be performed. Initial tests were carried out with this application in a driving simulator. They made it possible to test the acceptance of the application and the clarity of the information transmitted. The results generally showed that the participants correctly identified some of the factors limiting the proper functioning of the autonomous pilot while performing a secondary task on a tablet.Les véhicules autonomes se développent rapidement et entraîneront un changement de rôle important chez le conducteur: ce dernier sera amené à passer du rôle d'acteur à celui de superviseur. En effet, le conducteur sera bientôt en mesure d'effectuer une tâche secondaire mais devra toutefois être capable de reprendre le contrôle dans le cas d'une situation critique non gérée par le système autonome. Ceci implique que le rôle des nouvelles interfaces et interactions au sein du véhicule est important à prendre en compte. Cet article décrit la conception d'une application transmettant au conducteur des informations relatives à l'environnement perçu par son véhicule sous forme de modules. Cette application s'affiche en partage d'écran sur une tablette grâce à laquelle une tâche secondaire peut être effectuée. De premiers tests ont été effectués avec cette application dans un simulateur de conduite. Ils ont permis de tester l'acceptation de l'application et la clarté des informations transmises. Les résultats ont globalement montré que les participants ont correctement identifié certains facteurs limitant le bon fonctionnement du pilote autonome tout en réalisant une tâche secondaire sur tablette

Multimodal feedback for mid-air gestures when driving

Mid-air gestures in cars are being used by an increasing number of drivers on the road. Us-ability concerns mean good feedback is important, but a balance needs to be found between supporting interaction and reducing distraction in an already demanding environment. Visual feedback is most commonly used, but takes visual attention away from driving. This thesis investigates novel non-visual alternatives to support the driver during mid-air gesture interaction: Cutaneous Push, Peripheral Lights, and Ultrasound feedback. These modalities lack the expressive capabilities of high resolution screens, but are intended to allow drivers to focus on the driving task. A new form of haptic feedback — Cutaneous Push — was defined. Six solenoids were embedded along the rim of the steering wheel, creating three bumps under each palm. Studies 1, 2, and 3 investigated the efficacy of novel static and dynamic Cutaneous Push patterns, and their impact on driving performance. In simulated driving studies, the cutaneous patterns were tested. The results showed pattern identification rates of up to 81.3% for static patterns and 73.5% for dynamic patterns and 100% recognition of directional cues. Cutaneous Push notifications did not impact driving behaviour nor workload and showed very high user acceptance. Cutaneous Push patterns have the potential to make driving safer by providing non-visual and instantaneous messages, for example to indicate an approaching cyclist or obstacle. Studies 4 & 5 looked at novel uni- and bimodal feedback combinations of Visual, Auditory, Cutaneous Push, and Peripheral Lights for mid-air gestures and found that non-visual feedback modalities, especially when combined bimodally, offered just as much support for interaction without negatively affecting driving performance, visual attention and cognitive demand. These results provide compelling support for using non-visual feedback from in-car systems, supporting input whilst letting drivers focus on driving.Studies 6 & 7 investigated the above bimodal combinations as well as uni- and bimodal Ultrasound feedback during the Lane Change Task to assess the impact of gesturing and feedback modality on car control during more challenging driving. The results of study Seven suggests that Visual and Ultrasound feedback are not appropriate for in-car usage,unless combined multimodally. If Ultrasound is used unimodally it is more useful in a binary scenario.Findings from Studies 5, 6, and 7 suggest that multimodal feedback significantly reduces eyes-off-the-road time compared to Visual feedback without compromising driving performance or perceived user workload, thus it can potentially reduce crash risks. Novel design recommendations for providing feedback during mid-air gesture interaction in cars are provided, informed by the experiment findings

A Survey of User Interfaces for Robot Teleoperation

Robots are used today to accomplish many tasks in society, be it in industry, at home, or as helping tools on tragic incidents. The human-robot systems currently developed span a broad variety of applications and are typically very different from one another. The interaction techniques designed for each system are also very different, although some effort has been directed in defining common properties and strategies for guiding human-robot interaction (HRI) development. This work aims to present the state-of-the-art in teleoperation interaction techniques between robots and their users. By presenting potentially useful design models and motivating discussions on topics to which the research community has been paying little attention lately, we also suggest solutions to some of the design and operational problems being faced in this area

Opportunities for olfactory interaction in an automotive context

Driving is a highly visual task. Nevertheless, it is a process that involves other senses as well. When we drive, we touch the steering wheel; we listen to what is happening around us, and, even if we are not paying attention to that, we smell what is happening with the car or around it. A scent of gasoline, the burning rubber, the plastic heated up by the sunlight - these are just a few examples. Smell is a very important sense for driving, though it has not been studied much in this context [85], despite being able to provide a much more vivid experience than any other human sense [80]. This thesis aims to fill this gap by investigating opportunities for olfactory interaction in an automotive context. The thesis is mainly focused on designing a scent-delivery device suitable for in-car interaction, on the topic of delivering driving-relevant notifications using scents, and on studying the effects scents have on the driving performance and behaviour, as well as the driver’s mood and well-being. This paper-style PhD thesis consists of two parts. Part II is a collection of seven published papers written in the scope of this thesis, and Part I describes how these papers build a coherent story. Part I starts with an introduction (see Chapter 1) that covers the research questions and contributions of the thesis. It continues with a summary of the background research (see Chapter 2). This overview part then moves on to the description of the approach (see Chapter 3) that covers the process of designing the scent delivery device, the olfactory interaction space, and the studies conducted throughout this PhD. Chapter 4 then summarises the core findings of each study, which are finally discussed in Chapter 5. Part I finishes with a conclusion (see Chapter 6)