Abstract
Advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) are now numerous, each relieving drivers of their responsibility for the control of different aspects of the driving task. Notably, adaptive cruise control (ACC) for longitudinal control, or lane departure prevention (LDP) and lane centring control (LCC) for lateral control, two variations of the lane-keeping assistance (LKA) system. Drivers must familiarise themselves with various symbols to correctly identify and activate the system they wish to be using and the existing standard graphical symbols for ACC and LKA are often replaced by manufacturers in favour of their own symbols. With a user-centred approach in mind, we previously conducted a focus group where drivers were invited to design their own symbols and discuss those symbols currently in-use. In the present research, we administered an online survey and analysed the responses from 328 drivers regarding different levels of knowledge about ADAS, to evaluate the usability of a selection of these symbols. Our results indicate that the standard ACC symbol would not be the most suitable of the four symbols tested, whereas, the standard LKA/LDP symbol was greatly confused with any of the four LCC symbols we tested, especially if hands were present on the symbol. Finally, drivers without prior knowledge of ADAS had more difficulties interpreting those symbols in general. Considerations for the development and evaluation of graphical symbols are discussed.
Highlights
According to the claims made by certain automakers in the past (e.g., Hawkins 2017; Houser 2018), we should already have been able to choose to be chauffeured by our cars instead of driving them—the vision for tomorrow where pressing one button will turn our cars into fully autonomous systems (SAE level 5 driving automation; society of automotive engineering (SAE) International 2018; ERTRAC 2019)
Symbols form an important part of how these systems are operated, as they are used in driver-vehicle interfaces (DVI), including on buttons or on displays, to replace or accompany text and facilitate mode awareness
The research questions we addressed were: 1. Which adaptive cruise control (ACC) and lane centring control (LCC) symbols are better understood by drivers?
Summary
According to the claims made by certain automakers in the past (e.g., Hawkins 2017; Houser 2018), we should already have been able to choose to be chauffeured by our cars instead of driving them—the vision for tomorrow where pressing one button will turn our cars into fully autonomous systems (SAE level 5 driving automation; SAE International 2018; ERTRAC 2019). The current reality is that we are still pressing a carful of buttons to activate different and mostly independent advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) which, system-by-system, take over more control of the driving task to provide partially automated driving when combined (or SAE level 2 driving automation). This requires drivers to familiarise themselves with a myriad of system functionalities, controls, names, acronyms, and symbols to be able to operate their vehicles to their fullest capabilities.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
