Analyzing Transitional Stages During Transfer of Control in an Automated Vehicle

The level 3 automation vehicles provide time for drivers to participate in a non-driving task when vehicle automation is on. However, the vehicle requests the driver to take control of the vehicle when the system reaches its limitations. Many researchers have studied different hand-over procedures, and the effect on take-over time and driving performance. There is limited research on analyzing the driver\u27s transitions during the transfer of control in an automated vehicle. The goal of our research work is to find out the order of a series of transition stages that a driver goes through during take-over in an automated vehicle. Sub goals were to find out the take-over time and interleaving time by varying take-over request times. Additionally, the influence of take-over request time on transition stages is evaluated. An experimented was conducted with 15-sec and 30-sec take-over request times. Take-over request time includes pre and emergency audio alerts. Pre alert time is varied in two take-over request times scenario by having 8 sec of constant emergency alert time. From the results, two orders of series of transition stages are found, naming Interleaving order and Suspension order. The percentage of occurrence of interleaving order during take-over is found 80 % in 30 sec take-over request time. Maximum mean take-over time 21.06s (S.D 7.81) is found in a 30-sec scenario Interleaving order. The driver’s interleaving time is 18.72s in the 30-sec scenario, whereas 9.28s in the 15-sec scenario. From the results, we observe that the different take-over times affect the driver’s order of series of transition stages and the time duration between stages during take-over

Exploring the concept of the (future) mobile office

This video shows a concept of a future mobile office in a semi-automated vehicle that uses augmented reality. People perform non-driving tasks in current, non-automated vehicles even though that is unsafe. Moreover, even for passengers there is limited space, it is not social, and there can be motion sickness. In future cars, technology such as augmented reality might alleviate some of these issues. Our concept shows how augmented reality can project a remote conversant onto the dashboard. Thereby, the driver can keep an occasional eye on the road while the automated vehicle drives, and might experience less motion sickness. Potentially, this concept might even be used for group calls or for group activities such as karaoke, thereby creating a social setting. We also demonstrate how integration with an intelligent assistant (through speech and gesture analysis) might save the driver from having to grab a calendar to write things down, again allowing them to focus on the road

In-car distractions and automated driving: A preliminary simulator study

As vehicles with automated driving features become more common, drivers may become ever more tempted to engage in secondary in-car tasks. We report on the results of a driving simulator study that investigated whether the presence of an in-car video would make drivers more likely to switch on an automated driving system so that they can watch the video. Results show an increase in automated driving mode usage when a video was playing compared to when it was not playing. The presence of this in-car video also made participants slower at reacting to frequent red traffic lights, which the automated driving mode did not detect and were the responsibility of the driver to respond to. These results suggest that in-car distractions are a critical concern for the safe and responsible use of automated driving systems

Drivers\u27 Ability to Engage in a Non-Driving Related Task While in Automated Driving Mode in Real Traffic

Engaging in non-driving related tasks (NDRTs) while driving can be considered distracting and safety detrimental. However, with the introduction of highly automated driving systems that relieve drivers from driving, more NDRTs will be feasible. In fact, many car manufacturers emphasize that one of the main advantages with automated cars is that it "frees up time" for other activities while on the move. This paper investigates how well drivers are able to engage in an NDRT while in automated driving mode (i.e., SAE Level 4) in real traffic, via a Wizard of Oz platform. The NDRT was designed to be visually and cognitively demanding and require manual interaction. The results show that the drivers\u27 attention to a great extent shifted from the road ahead towards the NDRT. Participants could perform the NDRT equally well as when in an office (e.g. correct answers, time to completion), showing that the performance did not deteriorate when in the automated vehicle. Yet, many participants indicated that they noted and reacted to environmental changes and sudden changes in vehicle motion. Participants were also surprised by their own ability to, with ease, disconnect from driving. The presented study extends previous research by identifying that drivers to a high extent are able to engage in a NDRT while in automated mode in real traffic. This is promising for future of automated cars ability to "free up time" and enable drivers to engage in non-driving related activities

How does working from home during Covid-19 affect what managers do? Evidence from time-use studies

We assess how the sudden and widespread shift to working from home during the pandemic impacted how managers allocate time throughout their working day. We analyze the results from an online time-use survey with data on 1,192 knowledge workers (out of which 973 are managers) in two waves, a pre-pandemic wave collected in August/2019 (615 participants, out of which 506 are managers) and a post-pandemic wave collected in August/2020 (577 participants, out of which 464 are managers). Our findings indicate that the forced transition to WFH created by the COVID pandemic was associated with a drastic reduction in commuting time for managers, but also an increase in time spent in work rather than on personal activities. This included reallocating time gained from commuting into more time spent in meetings, possibly to recoup some of the extemporaneous interactions that typically happen in the office. This change is particularly pronounced for managers employed in larger organizations. We use the results from the time-use studies to discuss implications for the development of new technologies

Impacts of Complexity and Timing of Communication Interruptions on Visual Detection Tasks

Auditory preemption theory suggests two competing assumptions for the attention-capturing and performance-altering properties of auditory tasks. In onset preemption, attention is immediately diverted to the auditory channel. Strategic preemption involves a decision process in which the operator maintains focus on more complex auditory messages. The limitation in this process is that the human auditory, or echoic, memory store has a limit of 2 to 5 seconds, after which the message must be processed or it decays. In contrast, multiple resource theory suggests that visual and auditory tasks may be efficiently time-shared because two different pools of cognitive resources are used. Previous research regarding these competing assumptions has been limited and equivocal. Thus, the current research focused on systematically examining the effects of complexity and timing of communication interruptions on visual detection tasks. It was hypothesized that both timing and complexity levels would impact detection performance in a multi-task environment. Study 1 evaluated the impact of complexity and timing of communications occurring before malfunctions in an ongoing visual detection task. Twenty-four participants were required to complete each of the eight timing blocks that included simple or complex communications occurring simultaneously, and at 2, 5, or 8 seconds before detection events. For simple communications, participants repeated three pre-recorded words. However, for complex communications, they generated three words beginning with the same last letter of a word prompt. Results indicated that complex communications at two seconds or less occurring before a visual detection event significantly impacted response time with a 1.3 to 1.6 second delay compared to all the other timings. Detection accuracy for complex communication tasks under the simultaneous condition was significantly degraded compared to simple communications at five seconds or more prior to the task. This resulted in a 20% decline in detection accuracy. Additionally, participants\u27 workload ratings for complex communications were significantly higher than simple communications. Study 2 examined the timing of communications occurring at the corresponding seconds after the visual detection event. Twenty-four participants were randomly assigned to the communication complexity and timing blocks as in study 1. The results did not find significant performance effects of timing or complexity of communications on detection performance. However the workload ratings for the 2 and 5 second complex communication presentations were higher compared to the same simple communication conditions. Overall, these findings support the strategic preemption assumption for well-defined, complex communications. The onset preemption assumption for simple communications was not supported. These results also suggest that the boundaries of the multiple resource theory assumption may exist up to the limits of the echoic memory store. Figures of merit for task performance under the varying levels of timing and complexity are presented. Several theoretical and practical implications are discussed