Trust in vehicle technology

Driver trust has potentially important implications for how vehicle technology is used and interacted with. In this paper, it will be seen how driver trust functions and how it can be understood and manipulated by insightful vehicle design. It will review the theoretical literature to define steps that can be taken to establish trust in vehicle technology in the first place, maintain trust in the long term, and even re-establish trust that has been lost along the way. The paper presents a synthesis of the wider trust literature, integrates key trust parameters, describes practically how to measure trust, and presents a set of principles for vehicle designers to use in assessing existing design decisions and justify new ones

Discovering Driver-vehicle Coordination Problems in Future Automated Control Systems: Evidence from Verbal Commentaries

AbstractA critical question being asked by many vehicle manufacturers is what actually happens when the driver finds themselves being “hands and feet free” within their vehicles. This small exploratory case study was used to investigate the possible functionality of a Driver-Initiated Command and Control System of Automation. Verbalizations and subjective reports of mental workload and stress revealed evidence of different driver-vehicle coordination problems (i.e. mode error and automation surprise) based upon driver familiarity in driving with the system engaged

How to keep drivers engaged while supervising driving automation? A literature survey and categorization of six solution areas

This work aimed to organise recommendations for keeping people engaged during human supervision of driving automation, encouraging a safe and acceptable introduction of automated driving systems. First, heuristic knowledge of human factors, ergonomics, and psychological theory was used to propose solution areas to human supervisory control problems of sustained attention. Driving and non-driving research examples were drawn to substantiate the solution areas. Automotive manufacturers might (1) avoid this supervisory role altogether, (2) reduce it in objective ways or (3) alter its subjective experiences, (4) utilize conditioning learning principles such as with gamification and/or selection/training techniques, (5) support internal driver cognitive processes and mental models and/or (6) leverage externally situated information regarding relations between the driver, the driving task, and the driving environment. Second, a cross-domain literature survey of influential human-automation interaction research was conducted for how to keep engagement/attention in supervisory control. The solution areas (via numeric theme codes) were found to be reliably applied from independent rater categorisations of research recommendations. Areas (5) and (6) were addressed by around 70% or more of the studies, areas (2) and (4) in around 50% of the studies, and areas (3) and (1) in less than around 20% and 5%, respectively. The present contribution offers a guiding organisational framework towards improving human attention while supervising driving automation.submittedVersio

Calibrating trust through knowledge : introducing the concept of informed safety for automation in vehicles

There has been an increasing focus on the development of automation in vehicles due its many potential benefits like safety, improved traffic efficiency, reduced emissions etc. One of the key factors influencing public acceptance of automated vehicle technologies is their level of trust. Development of trust is a dynamic process and needs to be calibrated to the correct levels for safe deployment to ensure appropriate use of such systems. One of the factors influencing trust is the knowledge provided to the driver about the system’s true capabilities and limitations. After a 56 participants driving simulator study, the authors found that with the introduction of knowledge about the true capabilities and limitations of the automated system, trust in the automated system increased as compared to when no knowledge was provided about the system. Participants experienced two different types of automated systems: low capability automated system and high capability automated system. Interestingly, with the introduction of knowledge, the average trust levels for both low and high capability automated systems were similar. Based on the experimental results, the authors introduce the concept of informed safety, i.e., informing the drivers about the safety limits of the automated system to enable them to calibrate their trust in the system to an appropriate level

From the Concept of Being “the Boss” to the Idea of Being “a Team”: The Adaptive Co-Pilot as the Enabler for a New Cooperative Framework

The “classical” SAE LoA for automated driving can present several drawbacks, and the SAE-L2 and SAE-L3, in particular, can lead to the so-called “irony of automation”, where the driver is substituted by the artificial system, but is still regarded as a “supervisor” or as a “fallback mechanism”. To overcome this problem, while taking advantage of the latest technology, we regard both human and machine as members of a unique team that share the driving task. Depending on the available resources (in terms of driver’s status, system state, and environment conditions) and considering that they are very dynamic, an adaptive assignment of authority for each member of the team is needed. This is achieved by designing a technology enabler, constituted by the intelligent and adaptive co-pilot. It comprises (1) a lateral shared controller based on NMPC, which applies the authority, (2) an arbitration module based on FIS, which calculates the authority, and (3) a visual HMI, as an enabler of trust in automation decisions and actions. The benefits of such a system are shown in this paper through a comparison of the shared control driving mode, with manual driving (as a baseline) and lane-keeping and lane-centering (as two commercial ADAS). Tests are performed in a use case where support for a distracted driver is given. Quantitative and qualitative results confirm the hypothesis that shared control offers the best balance between performance, safety, and comfort during the driving task.This research was supported by the ECSEL Joint-Undertaking,which funded the PRYSTINE project under the Grant 783190

Handover issues in autonomous driving: A literature review

The present review was undertaken to inform a workpackage of the Venturer Project undertaking studies into the handover of control between a human driver and an autonomous road vehicle. The ‘handover problem’ arises as a feature of the development of autonomous vehicles that are “highly” but not “fully” autonomous (DfT, 2015). As human error is a major cause of road accidents, contributing to over 90% of road collisions, removing the human operator would likely reduce their incidence. (DfT 2015; Reason, Manstead, Stradling, Baxter, & Cambell, 1990). However, levels of automation which do not completely eliminate the role for a driver can themselves provide problems for the human operator (Stanton and Marsden, 1996; Parasuraman & Manzey, 2010; Parasuraman & Riley, 1997), due to required tasks such as ‘handover’. The report considers the existing evidence on handover, identifying research gaps for handover particularly in urban areas, and considers the policy implications

Shared control strategies for automated vehicles

188 p.Los vehículos automatizados (AVs) han surgido como una solución tecnológica para compensar las deficiencias de la conducción manual. Sin embargo, esta tecnología aún no está lo suficientemente madura para reemplazar completamente al conductor, ya que esto plantea problemas técnicos, sociales y legales. Sin embargo, los accidentes siguen ocurriendo y se necesitan nuevas soluciones tecnológicas para mejorar la seguridad vial. En este contexto, el enfoque de control compartido, en el que el conductor permanece en el bucle de control y, junto con la automatización, forma un equipo bien coordinado que colabora continuamente en los niveles táctico y de control de la tarea de conducción, es una solución prometedora para mejorar el rendimiento de la conducción manual aprovechando los últimos avances en tecnología de conducción automatizada. Esta estrategia tiene como objetivo promover el desarrollo de sistemas de asistencia al conductor más avanzados y con mayor grade de cooperatición en comparación con los disponibles en los vehículos comerciales. En este sentido, los vehículos automatizados serán los supervisores que necesitan los conductores, y no al revés. La presente tesis aborda en profundidad el tema del control compartido en vehículos automatizados, tanto desde una perspectiva teórica como práctica. En primer lugar, se proporciona una revisión exhaustiva del estado del arte para brindar una descripción general de los conceptos y aplicaciones en los que los investigadores han estado trabajando durante lasúltimas dos décadas. Luego, se adopta un enfoque práctico mediante el desarrollo de un controlador para ayudar al conductor en el control lateral del vehículo. Este controlador y su sistema de toma de decisiones asociado (Módulo de Arbitraje) se integrarán en el marco general de conducción automatizada y se validarán en una plataforma de simulación con conductores reales. Finalmente, el controlador desarrollado se aplica a dos sistemas. El primero para asistir a un conductor distraído y el otro en la implementación de una función de seguridad para realizar maniobras de adelantamiento en carreteras de doble sentido. Al finalizar, se presentan las conclusiones más relevantes y las perspectivas de investigación futuras para el control compartido en la conducción automatizada

Trust-based quality culture conceptual model for higher education institutions

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) play a crucial role in societies as they enhance the sustainable development of nations. In a context of increasing competition and financial difficulties in higher education institutions, the loyalty of students, faculty and administration staff as well as institutional reputation are key factors for survival and success. They are built upon trust and high quality of services rendered by HEIs. The intentional development of trust serves the purpose of enhancing the quality culture in higher education. The concept of quality culture has become a natural successor of quality management and quality assurance in universities presenting a new perspective for viewing quality at HEIs - as a combination of structural and managerial with cultural and psychological components. This paper provides an elaboration of a novel Trust-Based Quality Culture Conceptual Model for Higher Education Institutions which presents the perceived interconnections between trust and quality culture at HEIs. It can form a source for an inquiry process at HEIs, thus contributing to better contextual diagnosis of the stage where HEI is in the process of building the quality culture based on trust. The findings of this study are important in better understanding the quality culture development in HEIs that is based on trust, loyalty and reputation. It may have an impact on the decision-making processes concerning HEIs’ management. The proposed model contributes to the need for greater clarity, ordering and systematization of the role of trust in the processes of quality culture development