Keeping in the lane! Investigating drivers’ performance handling silent vs. alerted lateral control failures in monotonous partially automated driving

Abstract

This study investigated how drivers can manage the take-over when silent or alerted failure of automated lateral control occurs after monotonous hands-off driving with partial automation. Twenty-two drivers with varying levels of prior ADAS experience participated in the driving simulator experiment. The failures were injected into the driving scenario on curved road segments, accompanied by either a visual-auditory alert or no change in HMI. Results indicated that drivers could rarely maintain lane-keeping when automated steering was disabled silently, but most drivers safely managed the alerted failure situation within the ego-lane. The silent failure yielded significantly longer take-over time and generally worse lateral control quality. In contrast, poor longitudinal control performance was observed in alerted conditions due to more brake usage. An expert-based controllability assessment method was introduced to this study. The silent lateral failure situation during monotonous hands-off driving was rated as uncontrollable, while the alerted situation was basically controllable. Participants showed their preferences for the TORs, and the importance of conveying TOR reasons was also demonstrated. Relevance to industryThe results and implications of this study provided insights into the design and development of automated driving systems to prevent critical consequences. The comprehensive method of controllability assessment can benefit the automated driving system evaluation.