To delegate or not to delegate: A review of control frameworks for autonomous cars

Abstract

There have been significant advances in technology and automated systems that will eventually see the use of autonomous cars as commonplace on our roads. Various systems are already available that provide the driver with different levels of decision support. This paper highlights the key human factors issues associated with the interaction between the user and an autonomous system, including assistive decision support and the delegation of authority to the automobile. The level of support offered to the driver can range from traditional automated assistance, to system generated guidance that offers advice for the driver to act upon, and even more direct action that is initiated by the system itself without driver intervention. In many of these instances the role of the driver is slowly moving towards a supervisory role within a complex system rather than one of direct control of the vehicle. Different paradigms of interaction are considered and focus is placed on the partnership that takes place between the driver and the vehicle. Drawing on the wealth of knowledge that exists within the aviation domain and research literature that examines technology partnerships within the cockpit, this paper considers important factors that will assist the automotive community to understand the underlying issues of the human and their interaction within complex systems.

Patient acceptance and trust in automated computer‐assisted diagnosis of melanoma with dermatofluoroscopy

“…Almost half the patients indicated low or no agreement, while the remaining respondents were undecided or indicated moderate to high agreement. It appears that many patients still struggle with the idea of more autonomous, high‐quality, diagnostic processes in healthcare , even though autonomous driving or autonomous object recognition systems of vehicles are becoming increasingly evident in public road traffic . It is worth noting that 87.7 % of participants expressed high acceptance of such automated technical devices in everyday life.…”

Assessment selection in human-automation interaction studies: The Failure-GAM 2 E and review of assessment methods for highly automated driving

“…Optimal management looked different for situations when automation was functioning, as it should (automation in control), and when the automation was malfunctioning (automation failure). This model was based on an idea of a responsible driver (Richards and Stedmon, 2016) who would be needed for supervision and adjustment (Brookhuis et al, 2001) and who would correct errors if automation failed (McBridge et al, 2014). With a different definition of driver responsibilities, the model would change.…”

“…The role of the driver is certain to change once the task of driving can be handed over to the vehicle itself. This previously futuristic idea has become a real possibility (Akamatsu et al, 2013;Richards and Stedmon, 2016). Two motives for the development of more advanced automation in vehicles have been improving the driver's well-being and enhancing road safety (Stanton and Marsden, 1996).…”

“…The vehicle is able to drive by itself but the driver is obliged to maintain situation awareness and should be prepared and, if necessary, be able to take over driving at all times. The automation level would be above 7 (executes automatically, then necessarily informs the human) according to the Level of Automation (LoA) proposed by Sheridan et al (1978), and between 2 and 3 according to the classification proposed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA; Richards and Stedmon, 2016). According to the taxonomy proposed by Endsley (1999) the term would be Supervisory Control (SC), one step below Full Automation (FA); the difference between the two is the human's opportunity to intervene.…”

“…The introduction of driving assistance functions in vehicles, such as adaptive cruise control, changed the role of the driver slightly in the direction of a more passive and relaxed behaviour, with reduced mental workload as result (Stanton and Young, 1998). At higher levels of automation, the driver-vehicle interaction and control of the vehicle will differ dramatically from traditional driving, while the responsibility of the driver to maintain attention on the road will remain more or less the same (Richards and Stedmon, 2016). Even though automation is introduced in order to replace human manual control, planning, and problem solving, humans will still be needed for supervision and to make adjustments (Brookhuis et al, 2001).…”