Situation Awareness in Future Autonomous Vehicles: Beware of the Unexpected

Abstract

Vehicle autonomy is being heavily promoted as a means of improving transportation safety on the roadways. This goal, however, is highly dependent on the ability of human drivers to maintain situation awareness and intervene in circumstances that the automation cannot handle. While autonomy software is improving, it remains far less capable than human drivers. The automation conundrum shows that even as it improves, system autonomy is increasingly likely to reduce the ability of drivers to provide needed oversight. The Human-Automation System Oversight (HASO) model provides guidance on the design of vehicle autonomy to facilitate effective human-autonomy design for semi-autonomous vehicles.