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Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0871-5225

AccessType

Open Access Dissertation

Document Type

dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Program

Industrial Engineering & Operations Research

Year Degree Awarded

2020

Month Degree Awarded

September

First Advisor

Shannon C. Roberts

Second Advisor

Donald L. Fisher

Third Advisor

Michael Knodler, Jr.

Subject Categories

Ergonomics | Industrial Engineering

Abstract

With the advent of automated vehicle systems, the role of drivers has changed to a more supervisory role. However, it is known that all vehicles with Level 2 (L2) systems have a very specific operational design domain (ODD) and can only function on limited conditions. Hence, it is important for drivers to perceive the situations properly and regain the control from the L2 system when needed. As suggested by past research, designing an informative interface could help drivers in their new supervision and intervention role while driving with L2 vehicles by providing feedback to drivers when hazards or event that may cause system failure are detected. On the other hand there are many situations where these vehicles cannot detect hazards and provide any feedback prior to the event. In these cases, training programs which provide drivers with an experience of these system limitations and allow them to practice dealing with such limitations can prove to be effective countermeasures. The objective of the current study is to employ different methods (designing HMI and training drivers) to increase drivers’ situational awareness regarding operational design domain (ODD) and improve drivers performance in transfer of control situations while driving with level 2 (L2) automation features. This study includes two experiments- in first experiment, an informative dashboard interface was designed and tested through three phases (observation, prototyping, testing). Results from the testing phase showed that drivers who received the newly designed dashboards took back control more effectively and had more situational awareness compared to the control group. In the second experiment, a PC-based training program was designed and tested to improve drivers takeover response and situational awareness when L2 systems reach their ODD limits. Results showed drivers in the PC-based training group took back control more effectively when L2 systems reached their ODD limits and had more situational awareness compared to the drivers who received user manual or placebo training.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/18512156

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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