Heavy Vehicle Automation: Human Factors Lessons Learned

Abstract

Although passenger car automation has captured the public's attention in recent years, heavy truck automation has also been a major research topic around the world. In the U.S., the California PATH program at U.C. Berkeley has been engaged in heavy vehicle driver assistance and automation research for trucks, buses, and snow removal equipment for over 15 years. Until recently, much of the human factors work in the field has been limited to driving simulations because the state of the technology is only just now reaching the level of maturity required to move beyond pure research. Despite still being in the early stages of gaining practical, real-world experience with automation, lessons have been learned over the past two decades of heavy vehicle automation development. With the many different automation concepts being discussed, there are bound to be differences between passenger car and heavy vehicle automation because the motivations for automation differ between the two industries, resulting in different automation use cases and potentially leading to different design solutions. Similarly, since heavy vehicles tend to be engaged in commercial operations, institutional considerations can influence design, but commercial fleets also provide opportunities for driver training that might not otherwise be possible with the general public. Finally, the special use cases for heavy vehicle automation can challenge conventional design wisdom, and not all designs or conclusions coming from passenger car experience will necessarily apply to heavy vehicles.