Driver Task Research Articles

Assessment of stimulus distance during driving

We make about 1,400 decisions in one hour of the day, which makes about 35,000 decisions in 24 hours. The driver's task in traffic is to assess traffic situations and act in accordance with their decisions in traffic. One of the most common causes of traffic accidents is "misjudgment of road users". The perception of space is one of the prerequisites for safe and successful driving. In order to investigate the mentioned issue, the authors of this paper conducted an experimental study with the aim of determining what affects the perception of the distance to the object. 164 respondents participated in the experiment. The research results show statistically significant differences in the perception of distance to objects of different colors. The respondents with the smallest error estimate the distance to the red object better, in the conditions when the driver sits in the driver's seat and observes the object through the camera in the vehicle (hereinafter via the camera), while the respondents in the situation when the driver sits and observes the object in the rearview mirror (hereinafter to the text by looking in the rearview mirror) and in the situation when the driver is sitting and looking at objects over his shoulder (direct observation) estimated the distance to the yellow object with the smallest error. Respondents with the highest error estimate the distance to the blue and green objects.

Mining of the association rules between driver electrodermal activity and speed variation in different road intersections

It is commonly acknowledged that the human factor and the interaction between the human factor and the road environment are among the most common causes of road accidents. Physiological signals can provide a real-time assessment of the driver's state because they can be collected continuously without interfering with the driver's task performance or the drivers' perception of the road. This study presents a method for measuring and quantifying drivers' physiological responses when approaching T-junctions and roundabouts using electrodermal activity and speed variations. Speed and electrodermal activity were collected continuously during a driving study which took place on a test environment based at Cranfield University and surrounding roads. Twenty participants were involved in the study. The analysis focused on four crossing manoeuvres on two T-junctions and a roundabout. The association Rule with the Apriori algorithm was used in order to evaluate associations between the variables related to electrodermal activity, i.e. the number and amplitude of the SCR peaks (assessed by the Electrodermal Impact Index in aggregate form), and the variables related to speed, i.e. the speed variation and its sign (positive or negative), for each type of intersection. The main results of this study can be summarized as follows: 1) the rules obtained for the manoeuvres on the T-Junctions show that the T-junctions induce low variations in the electrodermal activity and are often associated with a significant speed increase (between 20% and 30%); 2) the rules obtained for the manoeuvres on the roundabout highlights that the roundabout induces high variations in the electrodermal activity and is associated with a significant speed reduction (between 20% and 40%).

Driver's Tasks in the Context of the Increase in the Degree of Automation of Road Transport

Abstract The publication adopts the SAE J3016 standard as the one that defines the level of vehicle autonomy. Gradually, the role of the driver, especially in terms of driving, will decrease, and the last 5th degree of automation will be achieved thanks to the complete elimination of the driver. Through the broadly understood research in the field of drivers' tasks (literature, information from enterprises and labor offices, face-to-face interviews), it can be stated that not all of them will be able to implement autonomous vehicles.

Understanding the mechanism of traffic hysteresis and traffic oscillations through the change in task difficulty level

This paper provides a detailed understanding of the mechanism of traffic hysteresis and traffic oscillations from the driver behavior perspective. Microscopic evaluation of trajectories inside seven selected oscillations is performed to obtain a comprehensive picture of these puzzling phenomena. A new method based on driver's task difficulty (TD) profile is proposed to capture changes in driver behavior in response to the disturbance caused by traffic oscillations. A close connection between the TD profile and evolution (such as formation and growth) of the stop-and-go traffic oscillations is found. Furthermore, driver behaviors inside the oscillations are identified based on driver's TD profile, and their connection with hysteresis magnitudes is established. Finally, a generalized linear model suggests that variables related to traffic flow and driver characteristics are significant predictors of hysteresis magnitude. One noteworthy finding is that, the bigger the difference between the average TD levels between deceleration and acceleration phases of a vehicle trajectory, the larger the hysteresis magnitude becomes.

Noise induced hearing loss risk assessment in truck drivers

Hearing sense is one of the key elements which may have impact on the driver's task quality. This cross-sectional study investigates the hearing status of 500 truck drivers by pure tone audiometry (AC) in one of the cities in Fars province, Iran. Hearing threshold levels of the subjects were measured in frequencies of 500Hz-8000Hz. Screening and determination of permanent threshold shift (PTS) was the first aim of this study. Hence tests were done at least 16 hours after any exposure to noticeable sound. The effect of age as a confounding factor was considered using ISO equation and subtracted from whole hearing threshold. The threshold of 25 dB HL and above was considered abnormal but the calculation of hearing was also carried out using 0 dB HL as reference. Subjects were categorized into two groups on the basis of working experience and the hearing threshold of 25 dB was considered a boundary of normal hearing sense. The results of Pearson Chi-Square test showed that working experience as an independent variable has significant contributing effect on hearing thresholds of truck drivers in frequencies of 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz (p greater than 0.05). Also, it was shown that currently nine and 12.6 % of truck drivers suffer from impaired hearing sense in left and right respectively (hearing threshold level greater than 25 dB) in mid frequencies (500, 1000, 2000 Hz) and 45% in high frequencies of both ears (4000 and 8000 Hz). The results indicated that hearing damage of professional drivers was expected to occur sooner at 4000 and 8000 Hz than lower frequencies. Finally it was deduced that the occupational conditions of truck drivers may have bilateral, symmetrical harmful effect on hearing threshold sense in all frequencies mainly in frequency of 4000 Hz, so health surveillance programs such as education and periodic medical examinations are emphasized for pre-diagnosing and prevention of any possible impairment and an urgent need to take up some interventions such as better maintenance of roads, automobile industry efforts to reduce the noise level emission of vehicles and reducing number of working hours per day of drivers are highlighted to improve the harmful working conditions of truck drivers.

Nighttime Visibility of Prototype Work Zone Markings under Dry, Wet-Recovery, and Rain Conditions

This paper presents the findings of a dynamic pavement marking visibility study conducted as part of the FHWA Highways for LIFE Technology Partnerships Program Temporary Wet-Weather Pavement Markings for Work Zones project. Three prototype optics-on-paint marking systems employing high refractive index dual-optics drop-on elements were evaluated at night under dry, wet-recovery (immediately after rainfall), and rain conditions. These three prototypes were chosen based on their durability from an initial pool of 22 experimental systems evaluated in a test deck. This dual-optic system was designed to provide good visibility in both dry and wet weather conditions. Two commercially available marking systems were also evaluated as industry benchmarks (one glass beads-on-paint system, one wet-reflective removable tape). Thirty participants driving through simulated work zones on a closed course viewed all of the marking types at night under all three weather conditions. Each driver's task was to identify the direction of work zone lane shift tapers delineated by the markings. In wet recovery, all three prototype marking systems and the wet-reflective tape sustained 60% to 80% of their dry average detection distances, and in rain, they sustained 50% to 70% of their dry average detection distances. In contrast, the average wet-recovery and rain detection distances for the conventional glass beads-on-paint benchmark system dropped to 28% and 17% of the dry detection distance, respectively. In addition, participants failed to detect the conventional glass beads-on-paint benchmark system in nearly half of the observations in the rain condition.

Automatization, automation, and modeling of driver's behavior

When learning to drive and with practice the driver's task becames increasingly automatized and requires less resources and gradually appears effortless, safe, and easy, providing drivers at the wheel with more time to be used for both traffic and non traffic activities. So does automated, intellignet driver support, too. This paper first considers differential effects of this development on drivers' attention control time sharing needs and possibilities at the wheel. Secondly, it deals with the reference model to be used in intelligent driver support, and posits a close relationship between the concepts of time safety margins and mental load in driver behavior. Last, this paper asks whether driver support should be adaptive with respect to different drivers.

Assessment of a Driver Guidance System: A Multilevel Evaluation

Recent development of driver support poses new problems of evaluation for ergonomists. It must be ensured that the support provided for one aspect of the driver's task does not adversely affect other aspects. In this study I describe the case of a route guidance evaluation system. The results show an improvement in the driver's performance, but this improvement concerns the driver's ability to manage the interaction with other road users (situational performance) more than the navigational performance itself. These results call for two comments: (a) Drivers carry out complex self-adaptation operations among the various levels of their activity; a well-designed system should make such adaptation possible and (b) the evaluation procedure must therefore be sufficiently comprehensive to detect such adaptation phenomena.

An Analysis of Driver's Control Algorithm using Neural Network Modeling

SUMMARYThis research deals with an analysis of the driver's control algorithm as the first step of a modeling of driver. As driver's tasks are divided into two parts, one is for recognition of the environment around the vehicle, and the other is for the decision of the control output, such as steering torque, throttle and braking control, and so on. On the recognition part, the relative positioning method between driver and road shape is used with radar sight description. On a decision of the control output, the neural network modeling is adopted. And, it is shown that the result of the model agrees with the experimental result. Next, effective factors of all input to the output using the driver model are analyzed. From the results, it is found that a driver always changes his/her main information to decide the control output.

On the problem of social and hygienic consequences of the trucks service

The investigation of the social and hygienic conditions of labour, way of life, rest and health state of drivers of trucks in the Motor Transport Works-6 is performed using the specially developed questionnaire including 46 questions. It is shown that the complication of the driver's task by the loading and unloading and difficulties in the process of adaptation to the new type of work according to a sliding schedule cause the early tiredness accompanied by various complaints.

In–vehicle information systems

In–depth accident analyses point to driver problems with information acquisition and processing as the major cause of human errors, and thereby of accidents. To analyze information needs, the driver's tasks are split up into five levels: (1) strategic planning; (2) navigation; (3) traffic interaction; (4) road following; and (5) vehicle handling. For each of these levels, the information problems and means to overcome them with in–vehicle electronic information systems are analyzed. The most promising areas seem to be (1), (2) and (4). Critical areas are system reliability, personal relevance, prediction capacity, user friendliness, distraction effects and price.

Driver Visibility Quality: An Electro-Optical Device for In-Vehicle Measurement of MTF (Contrast-Transmittance) through Windshields, Mirrors, and other Glazing Systems

An electro-optical Visibility Quality Meter (VQM) has been developed to provide quantitative measurements of MTF (modulation transfer function, an index of contrast reduction as a function of target size). VQM meter data showed excellent agreement with human visual tests under a variety of visibility degradations (windshield fogging, icing, dust and road film, interior reflections, glare, etc.). Since many of the driver's visual tasks involve visual targets which are relatively large but low in contrast, visibility is often limited by contrast threshold rather than by resolution threshold. The VQM provides a practical and simple means for establishing and monitoring standards of driver visibility quality in automotive glazing systems. A final report for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (contract DOT-HS-6–01426) provides details of the contruction of the VQM, the optical properties of the test samples, the correlations between meter data and human visual data, and the implications of this research for minimum visibility standards and driver vision screening programs.

Dynamics of highway design for safety

An important aspect of improving highway safety lies in designing the geometric features of roadways in response to the characteristics and behavior of drivers. This is being applied to specific features of highways with evidence of improvement in operation and safety. However, much more can be accomplished. There is now available additional operational experience and observations, which can assist the driver's task in vehicle control and guidance, but which have not yet been fully reflected in design criteria. If judiciously applied, such measures could further enhance highway safety. The paper addresses itself mainly to this aspect and presents the thesis: when all known or accepted safety features and techniques are applied fully to a highway project, it may be expected that a significant improvement in safety will be achieved. An actual project is suggested to validate this approach.

Paper 13: The New Vöv (Public Transport Authority) Model O 305 Standard Service Bus

If the drift to individual means of transport is to be avoided, the city bus must be made more attractive in its driving comfort and performance, and provide a maximum degree of safety. Vehicles of advanced design requiring a minimum of maintenance, and frames and superstructures constructed according to the latest conceptions, are absolutely necessary for an economic and reliable city bus. Easy-to-operate controls facilitate the driver's task and are an added safety measure. The standard O 305 regular service bus, designed in accordance with the regulations of the Public Transport Authority (Verband Öffentlicher Verkehrsbetriebe), meets these demands. The experimental electric bus with hybrid drive appears to be a solution to the exacting requirements of future traffic with regard to exhaust emission control.

Visible distances and safe approach speeds for night driving.

Abstract The purpose of this investigation was to demonstrate the visible distances that can be considered realistic during night driving on non-illuminated roads. From the experimental data the approach speeds were calculated that can be considered as safe for various conditions and states of the driver, the car and the road. 413 drivers volunteered to participate in their own oars in 14 different places in Sweden. Each driver's task was to drive his ear towards a stationary car, both cars with dipped headlights, and to brake as soon as he was aware of a dark-clothed dummy that was placed in the middle of the lane beside the stationary car. A special experiment compared the results of this semi-dynamic test with those of a fully dynamic test. The median visible distance was 23 m and the 10th percentile 15 m. The calculated safe approach speeds for the tested drivers varied between 25 km/ h and 50 km/ h depending on the conditions chosen. A simplified parallel investigation with 974 participating drivers ...