The Driver's Response to Decreasing Vehicle Separations during Transitions into the Automated Lane

Details

• Creators:
  Bloomfield, John R. ; Christensen, J. Marty ; Carroll, S. A. ; Watson, G. S.
• Corporate Creators:
  Honeywell Inc.
• Contributors:
  Alicandri, Elizabeth
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Safety and Traffic Operations R&D
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Automated Highway Systems Automation Driving Simulators Human Factors Intelligent Vehicles
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA-RD-95-107
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Right Statement:
  Public Domain
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  Working Paper
• Contracting Officer:
  Alicandri, Elizabeth
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Safety and Traffic Operations
• Abstract:
  This experiment is one in a series exploring human factors issues related to the Automated Highway System (AHS). The comfort level of the driver of the lead vehicle of a string of automated vehicles was determined (a) under normal AHS operating conditions, and (b) while a second vehicle was joining the string as the new lead vehicle. The experiment was conducted in the Iowa Driving Simulator. A generic AHS configuration was used - the left lane was reserved for automated vehicles, the center and right lanes contained unautomated vehicles, the center lane was not a dedicated transition lane, there were no barriers between the automated and unautomated lanes. Sixty drivers participated in the experiment - half male, half females; half between the ages of 25 and 34 years, half who were 65 or older. The experiment began with the simulator vehicle leading a string of vehicles in the automated lane - it was controlled by the AHS and traveling at the design velocity - then, it became the new leader of the string of vehicles. While the gap between the entering vehicle and the simulator vehicle was decreasing, the comfort level of the driver was monitored. The experiment determined the effect on the driver's comfort level of varying: the design velocity, the inter-string gap, the time at which the second vehicle entered the automated lane, and the age and gender of the driver.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  DTFH61-92-C-00100
• Collection(s):
  Federal Highway Administration
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:826fe6f7c1f05925032599e03279ead5c63849270278eb0b6defade1364880e38d970112d283656c5ca414c7ea37b414e6aa4af4bc024158bc11109f7e68c16e
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/88400/dot_88400_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.89 MB ]