Does Information on Automated Driving Functions and the Way of Presenting It before Activation Influence Users’ Behavior and Perception of the System?

Abstract

Information on automated driving functions when automation is not activated but is available have not been investigated thus far. As the possibility of conducting non-driving related activities (NDRAs) is one of the most important aspects when it comes to perceived usefulness of automated cars and many NDRAs are time-dependent, users should know the period for which automation is available, even when not activated. This article presents a study (N = 33) investigating the effects of displaying the availability duration before—versus after—activation of the automation on users’ activation behavior and on how the system is rated. Furthermore, the way of addressing users regarding the availability on a more personal level to establish “sympathy” with the system was examined with regard to acceptance, usability, and workload. Results show that displaying the availability duration before activating the automation reduces the frequency of activations when no NDRA is executable within the automated drive. Moreover, acceptance and usability were higher and workload was reduced as a result of this information being provided. No effects were found with regard to how the user was addressed.

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

“…With limited availability comes the possibility of interrupting an NDRA, thus potentially causing negative effects such as annoyance and higher workload (see Janssen et al [3] for an overview). In line with this, Danner et al [4] and Hecht et al [5] identified information about the remaining automated driving time as a main user need, as different activities were found to require different time budgets and time budget information may help users to develop a correct mental model.…”

Mode Awareness Interfaces in Automated Vehicles, Robotics, and Aviation: A Literature Review

“…Qualitative data is gained through questionnaires and interviews. In AD, AVI and HRI questionnaires [8, 14, 17, 23, 27, 29, 30, 36, 44, 45, 52-55, 73, 87, 92, 94] and post test interviews (mostly semi structured) [17,29,32,44,49,55,61,69,71,85,88,89,92] are utilized. It is remarkable that we only found one long term naturalistic study with respect to mode awareness, which was a six months study for Tesla drivers [26].…”

“…Apart from text and graphical elements, eye catching elements are used to draw the attention of the user, especially in critical situations. These are flashing of icons or light [15,19,32,37,79,86], animation of visuals [53], pop-up displays [17] and exclamation mark at the of sentences [2,36,44]. Also change of color, especially red to draw immediate attention [61,65] is a common approach to draw attention in all three domains [2,3,13,26,27,33,36,44,89].…”

“…Another strategy is to provide additional information that might contribute to the awareness of the user. In this sense, a common information for AD and AV is the vehicle speed [2,80], and for AD and HRI, information on actions that needs to be taken by the user [12,17,19].…”

The effects of displaying availability sections of an automated driving function

“…Nevertheless, information needs regarding ADS during manual driving have hardly been investigated so far. One exploratory study (Danner et al, 2020b) consisting of a focus group discussion with automated driving experts and a driving simulator study with laypersons collected information on this topic, leading to the results that future users might need information on the availability duration of the ADS when it is available but still not activated. Furthermore, when the ADS is not available, information on the reasons for non-availability and the duration until the ADS is available might be helpful.…”