Vehicle Automation Field Test: Impact on Driver Behavior and Trust

TL;DR

This study investigates how autonomous vehicle automation affects driver behavior and trust in real-world conditions, revealing that road features influence attention and trust, and automation activities impact takeover reaction times.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into driver behavior and trust dynamics in real-life autonomous vehicle operation, extending beyond laboratory studies.

Findings

Road features influence visual attention and trust levels.

Activities during automation affect takeover reaction times.

Real-world data confirms behavioral patterns observed in simulations.

Abstract

With the growing technological advances in autonomous driving, the transport industry and research community seek to determine the impact that autonomous vehicles (AV) will have on consumers, as well as identify the different factors that will influence their use. Most of the research performed so far relies on laboratory-controlled conditions using driving simulators, as they offer a safe environment for testing advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS). In this study we analyze the behavior of drivers that are placed in control of an automated vehicle in a real life driving environment. The vehicle is equipped with advanced autonomy, making driver control of the vehicle unnecessary in many scenarios, although a driver take over is possible and sometimes required. In doing so, we aim to determine the impact of such a system on the driver and their driving performance. To this end road users' behavior from naturalistic driving data is analyzed focusing on awareness and diagnosis of the road situation. Results showed that the road features determined the level of visual attention and trust in the automation. They also showed that the activities performed during the automation affected the reaction time to take over the control of the vehicle.