What happens when I push the accelerator pedal? Exploration and proposal for the design of driver-initiated transitions between different automation modes in a highly automated vehicle

Abstract

Highly automated vehicles are currently under development and demonstrated to the public that combine several assistance and automation functions. An example is the EU project HAVEit. In these vehicles the control over the vehicle can be dynamically shifted between the driver and the automation by driver or automation initiated transitions. This paper focuses on the transition design for driver initiated transitions and presents the results of a simulator study, in which four different prototypes of the HAVEit project were tested. The results show that participants based their expectations about the transition design on the experience they previously made in lower automation modes of the same prototype. After a test drive of 15 minutes the participants were asked about their understanding of the transition design. Some transition designs seemed to be more difficult to understand than others. But overall, most participants showed a correct understanding of the transition design even if their original expectations differed from the prototype reactions. The paper summarizes the study results, documents the final HAVEit transition design and derives some general proposals for the transition design in a highly automated vehicle.