Adjustable automation and manoeuvre control in automated driving

Current implementations of automated driving rely on the driver to monitor the vehicle and be ready to assume control in situations that the automation cannot successfully manage. However, research has shown that drivers are not able to monitor an automated vehicle for longer periods of time, as the monotonous monitoring task leads to attention reallocation or fatigue. Driver involvement in the automated driving task promises to counter this effect. The authors researched how the implementation of a haptic human–vehicle interface, which allows the driver to adjust driving parameters and initiate manoeuvres, influences the subjective experience of drivers in automated vehicles. In a simulator study, they varied the level of control that drivers have over the vehicle, between manual driving, automated driving without the possibility to adjust the automation, as well as automated driving with the possibility to initiate manoeuvres and adjust driving parameters of the vehicle. Results show that drivers have a higher level of perceived control and perceived level of responsibility when they have the ability to interact with the automated vehicle through the haptic interface. The authors conclude that the possibility to interact with automated vehicles can be beneficial for driver experience and safety

Introducing a multivariate model for predicting driving performance: The role of driving anger and personal characteristics

Introduction: Maladaptive driving is an important source of self-inflicted accidents and this driving style could include high speeds, speeding violations, and poor lateral control of the vehicle. The literature suggests that certain groups of drivers, such as novice drivers, males, highly motivated drivers, and those who frequently experience anger in traffic, tend to exhibit more maladaptive driving patterns compared to other drivers. Remarkably, no coherent framework is currently available to describe the relationships and distinct influences of these factors. Method: We conducted two studies with the aim of creating a multivariate model that combines the aforementioned factors, describes their relationships, and predicts driving performance more precisely. The studies employed different techniques to elicit emotion and different tracks designed to explore the driving behaviors of participants in potentially anger-provoking situations. Study 1 induced emotions with short film clips. Study 2 confronted the participants with potentially anger-inducing traffic situations during the simulated drive. Results: In both studies, participants who experienced high levels of anger drove faster and exhibited greater longitudinal and lateral acceleration. Furthermore, multiple linear regressions and path-models revealed that highly motivated male drivers displayed the same behavior independent of their emotional state. The results indicate that anger and specific risk characteristics lead to maladaptive changes in important driving parameters and that drivers with these specific risk factors are prone to experience more anger while driving, which further worsens their driving performance. Driver trainings and anger management courses will profit from these findings because they help to improve the validity of assessments of anger related driving behavior

Attention and information acquisition: Comparison of mouse-click with eye-movement attention tracking

Attention is crucial as a fundamental prerequisite for perception. The measurement of attention in viewing and recognizing the images that surround us constitutes an important part of eye movement research, particularly in advertising-effectiveness research. Recording eye and gaze (i.e. eye and head) movements is considered the standard procedure for measuring attention. However, alternative measurement methods have been developed in recent years, one of which is mouse-click attention tracking (mcAT) by means of an on-line based procedure that measures gaze motion via a mouse-click (i.e. a hand and finger positioning maneuver) on a computer screen.Here we compared the validity of mcAT with eye movement attention tracking (emAT). We recorded data in a between subject design via emAT and mcAT and analyzed and compared 20 subjects for correlations. The test stimuli consisted of 64 images that were assigned to eight categories. Our main results demonstrated a highly significant correlation (p<0.001) between mcAT and emAT data. We also found significant differences in correlations between different image categories. For simply structured pictures of humans or animals in particular, mcAT provided highly valid and more consistent results compared to emAT. We concluded that mcAT is a suitable method for measuring the attention we give to the images that surround us, such as photographs, graphics, art or digital and print advertisements

Unort Gewerbegebiet? – Qualitätsvolle Freiräume als Grundlage für Arbeitsorte

Freiraume - Straßen, Wege, Plätze – kurz alles das, was zwischen den Gebäuden ist - sind die Grundlage für städtisches Leben (vgl. Gehl, J., 2010) – in erster Linie denkt man dabei an fußläufige Stadtquartiere, Nutzungsvielfalt, öffentliche Räume als attraktive lebendige Orte der Begegnung. In Wien tauchen Bilder der Freiräume des ersten Bezirks auf, oder die Lebendigkeit in Freiräumen der Gründerzeitvierteln. Allerdings: Der moderne funktionalisierte Städtebau mit der Trennung von Wohnen und Arbeiten prägt auch Wien (Charta von Athen, 1933). Neben Wohnsiedlungen sind Gewerbegebiete Ausdruck des monofunktionalen Städtebaus mit ihren typischen Charakteristika wie der Erzeugung von (meist motorisiertem) Verkehr zwischen den einzelnen Stadtteilen zur Bewältigung des Alltags (Arbeiten, Einkaufen, Behördenwege, Kinderbetreuung, soziale Kontakte) und wenig einladenden Freiräumen. Der vorliegende Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, wie, am Beispiel des Gewerbegebietes Liesing, in monofunktionalen Stadtteilen eine „smarte“ Stadtentwicklung aus der Perspektive der integrativen Freiraumplanung aussehen kann. Diesem Beitrag liegt die freiraumplanerische These zu Grunde, dass die Freiräume die Grundlage der Stadt sind, auch der Gewerbegebiete. Freiräume im Gewerbegebiet sind gekennzeichnet vom Wirtschaften – auf den Betriebsparzellen wie in den öffentlichen Freiräumen. Es finden sich Freiräume für Produktion und Lagerung, für KundInnen für MitarbeiterInnen – Freiräume werden genutzt beim Hin- und Rückweg zur Arbeit, während des Arbeitstages für Pausen, Besprechungen im Freien. (vgl. Ruland, G., 2012) Mit der Funktionalisierung des Stadtteils geht eine vermeintliche Funktionalisierung der NutzerInnen und ihrer Alltage einher. Aber der Blick auf den Alltag im Gewerbegebiet zeigt, dass und wie vielfältig Lebens- und Wirtschaftsalltage stattfinden: Das Wirtschaften der Betriebe unterliegt zeitlichen und räumlichen Rhythmen und wird entlang sozialer, ökologischer und ökonomischer Kreisläufe entwickelt. Die MitarbeiterInnen kombinieren an ihrem Arbeitsort die Erwerbsarbeit mit Einkäufen, mit Freizeitaktivitäten oder sozialen Aktivitäten. Nicht zuletzt ist das Gewerbegebiet ein (Querungs-)Raum auf den alltäglichen Wegen der BewohnerInnen und NutzerInnen des gesamten südlichen Wiener Stadtteils. Es wäre verschwendetes Potential, ein Gewerbegebiet nur als auf die Nutzung „Gewerbe“ beschränkt wahrzunehmen. In der bereits gelebten Nutzungsvielfalt steckt Potential, dass es, im Sinne einer Smart City-Entwicklung ausgehend von den Gegebenheiten des jeweiligen Ortes, zu entwickeln gilt. Der Beitrag diskutiert Projektideen wie auf Ebene der öffentlichen Freiräume und auf Ebene der betrieblichen Freiräume durch integrative Freiraumplanung die Standortqualität gesichert und verbessert, aber auch den Herausforderungen des Klimawandels begegnet werden kann (vgl. Saarbrücken, 2012)

Sex differences in mental rotation strategy

When humans decide whether two visual stimuli are identical or mirror images of each other and one of the stimuli is rotated with respect to the other, the time discrimination takes usually increases as a rectilinear function of the orientation disparity. On the average, males perform this mental rotation at a faster angular speed than females. This experiment required the rotation of both mirror-image-different and non-mirror-different stimuli. The polygonal stimuli were presented in either spatially unfiltered, high-pass or low-pass filtered versions. All stimulus conditions produced mental rotation-type effects but with graded curvilinear trends. Women rotated faster than men under all conditions, an infrequent outcome in mental rotation studies. Overall, women yielded more convexly curvilinear response functions than men. For both sexes the curvilinearity was more pronounced under the non-mirror-different, low-pass stimulus condition than under the mirror different, high-pass stimulus condition. The results are considered as supporting the occurrence of two different mental rotation strategies and as suggesting that the women were predisposed to use efficiently an analytic feature rotation strategy, while the men were predisposed to employ efficiently a holistic pattern rotation strategy. It is argued that the overall design of this experiment promoted the application of an analytic strategy and thus conferred an advantage to the female participants