11,313 research outputs found
Examining the effects of emotional valence and arousal on takeover performance in conditionally automated driving
In conditionally automated driving, drivers have difficulty in takeover transitions as they become increasingly decoupled from the operational level of driving. Factors influencing takeover performance, such as takeover lead time and the engagement of non-driving-related tasks, have been studied in the past. However, despite the important role emotions play in human-machine interaction and in manual driving, little is known about how emotions influence drivers’ takeover performance. This study, therefore, examined the effects of emotional valence and arousal on drivers’ takeover timeliness and quality in conditionally automated driving. We conducted a driving simulation experiment with 32 participants. Movie clips were played for emotion induction. Participants with different levels of emotional valence and arousal were required to take over control from automated driving, and their takeover time and quality were analyzed. Results indicate that positive valence led to better takeover quality in the form of a smaller maximum resulting acceleration and a smaller maximum resulting jerk. However, high arousal did not yield an advantage in takeover time. This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating how emotional valence and arousal affect takeover performance. The benefits of positive emotions carry over from manual driving to conditionally automated driving while the benefits of arousal do not
Paving the Roadway for Safety of Automated Vehicles: An Empirical Study on Testing Challenges
The technology in the area of automated vehicles is gaining speed and
promises many advantages. However, with the recent introduction of
conditionally automated driving, we have also seen accidents. Test protocols
for both, conditionally automated (e.g., on highways) and automated vehicles do
not exist yet and leave researchers and practitioners with different
challenges. For instance, current test procedures do not suffice for fully
automated vehicles, which are supposed to be completely in charge for the
driving task and have no driver as a back up. This paper presents current
challenges of testing the functionality and safety of automated vehicles
derived from conducting focus groups and interviews with 26 participants from
five countries having a background related to testing automotive safety-related
topics.We provide an overview of the state-of-practice of testing active safety
features as well as challenges that needs to be addressed in the future to
ensure safety for automated vehicles. The major challenges identified through
the interviews and focus groups, enriched by literature on this topic are
related to 1) virtual testing and simulation, 2) safety, reliability, and
quality, 3) sensors and sensor models, 4) required scenario complexity and
amount of test cases, and 5) handover of responsibility between the driver and
the vehicle.Comment: 8 page
ICT Infrastructure for Cooperative, Connected and Automated Transport in Transition Areas
One of the challenges of automated road transport is to manage the coexistence of conventional and highly automated vehicles, in order to ensure an uninterrupted level of safety and efficiency. Vehicles driving at a higher automation level may have to change to a lower level of automation in a certain area under certain circumstances and certain (e.g. road and weather) conditions. The paper targets the transition phases between different levels of automation. It will review related research, introduce a concept to investigate automation level changes, present
some recent research results, i.e. assessing key performance indicators for both analysing driver behaviour and traffic management in light of autonomous vehicles, an initial simulation architecture, and address further research topics on investigation of the traffic management in such areas (called "Transition Areas") when the automation level changes, and development of traffic management procedures and protocols to enable smooth coexistence of automated, cooperative, connected vehicles and conventional vehicles, especially in an urban environment
In loco intellegentia: Human factors for the future European train driver
The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) represents a step change in technology for rail operations in Europe. It comprises track-to-train communications and intelligent on-board systems providing an unprecedented degree of support to the train driver. ERTMS is designed to improve safety, capacity and performance, as well as facilitating interoperability across the European rail network. In many ways, particularly from the human factors perspective, ERTMS has parallels with automation concepts in the aviation and automotive industries. Lessons learned from both these industries are that such a technology raises a number of human factors issues associated with train driving and operations. The interaction amongst intelligent agents throughout the system must be effectively coordinated to ensure that the strategic benefits of ERTMS are realised. This paper discusses the psychology behind some of these key issues, such as Mental Workload (MWL), interface design, user information requirements, transitions and migration and communications. Relevant experience in aviation and vehicle automation is drawn upon to give an overview of the human factors challenges facing the UK rail industry in implementing ERTMS technology. By anticipating and defining these challenges before the technology is implemented, it is hoped that a proactive and structured programme of research can be planned to meet them
Distributed Consensus to Enable Merging and Spacing of UAS in an Urban Environment
This paper presents a novel approach to enable multiple Unmanned Aerial Systems approaching a common intersection to independently schedule their arrival time while maintaining a safe separation. Aircraft merging at a common intersection are grouped into a network and each aircraft broadcasts its arrival time interval to the network. A distributed consensus algorithm elects a leader among the aircraft approaching the intersection and helps synchronize the information received by each aircraft. The consensus algorithm ensures that each aircraft computes a schedule with the same input information. The elected leader also dictates when a schedule must be computed, which may be triggered when a new aircraft joins the network. Preliminary results illustrating the collaborative behavior of the vehicles are presented
A Scalable Low-Cost-UAV Traffic Network (uNet)
This article proposes a new Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operation paradigm
to enable a large number of relatively low-cost UAVs to fly
beyond-line-of-sight without costly sensing and communication systems or
substantial human intervention in individual UAV control. Under current
free-flight-like paradigm, wherein a UAV can travel along any route as long as
it avoids restricted airspace and altitudes. However, this requires expensive
on-board sensing and communication as well as substantial human effort in order
to ensure avoidance of obstacles and collisions. The increased cost serves as
an impediment to the emergence and development of broader UAV applications. The
main contribution of this work is to propose the use of pre-established route
network for UAV traffic management, which allows: (i) pre- mapping of obstacles
along the route network to reduce the onboard sensing requirements and the
associated costs for avoiding such obstacles; and (ii) use of well-developed
routing algorithms to select UAV schedules that avoid conflicts. Available
GPS-based navigation can be used to fly the UAV along the selected route and
time schedule with relatively low added cost, which therefore, reduces the
barrier to entry into new UAV-applications market. Finally, this article
proposes a new decoupling scheme for conflict-free transitions between edges of
the route network at each node of the route network to reduce potential
conflicts between UAVs and ensuing delays. A simulation example is used to
illustrate the proposed uNet approach.Comment: To be submitted to journal, 21 pages, 9 figure
Measurement of performance using acceleration control and pulse control in simulated spacecraft docking operations
Nine commercial airline pilots served as test subjects in a study to compare acceleration control with pulse control in simulated spacecraft maneuvers. Simulated remote dockings of an orbital maneuvering vehicle (OMV) to a space station were initiated from 50, 100, and 150 meters along the station's -V-bar (minus velocity vector). All unsuccessful missions were reflown. Five way mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) with one between factor, first mode, and four within factors (mode, bloch, range, and trial) were performed on the data. Recorded performance measures included mission duration and fuel consumption along each of the three coordinate axes. Mission duration was lower with pulse mode, while delta V (fuel consumption) was lower with acceleration mode. Subjects used more fuel to travel faster with pulse mode than with acceleration mode. Mission duration, delta V, X delta V, Y delta V., and Z delta V all increased with range. Subjects commanded the OMV to 'fly' at faster rates from further distances. These higher average velocities were paid for with increased fuel consumption. Asymmetrical transfer was found in that the mode transitions could not be predicted solely from the mission duration main effect. More testing is advised to understand the manual control aspects of spaceflight maneuvers better
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