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

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. Document type: Articl

The effects of displaying availability sections of an automated driving function

So far, there has been little research into displaying the availability of a higher-level automated driving system. The benefits of presenting availability times while driving automatically have already been discussed, but there are no findings on giving information on all availability sections (operational design domains) independent of the current state of the automated driving system. This work aims to close this gap by conducting a driving simulator study with N = 54 participants to verify whether an overview display of all the road sections on which automated driving is possible has a positive effect on the participants’ acceptance, usability, workload, and task performances. Results showed that the presentation of this additional information had a significantly positive influence on both acceptance and task performance. The outcomes of this work indicate that the required transparency-creating information of the automated driving system should not be limited to safety-related information or the phases of automated driving itself

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Europe Chapter 2013 Annual Conference:Human Factors: sustainable life and mobility

On the occasion of the 2013 Meeting in Torino, Ital