Driver training for future automated vehicles
Source: The RAC Foundation.
A new study by the University of Nottingham and the RAC Foundation suggests that behavioural training for drivers is paramount for the transition into the next stage of automated vehicles, known as level 3 automation.
A team from the University’s Human Factors Research Group studied two groups of experienced drivers in a high-fidelity driving simulator to observe their behaviour while ‘driving’ a car with level 3 automation.
The research was funded by the RAC Foundation and led by researcher Emily Shaw, working with Dr David R. Large and Professor Gary Burnett, in the Human Factors Research Group, Faculty of Engineering.
The study found that drivers who received behavioural training were more measured in their behaviour and better understood the car’s capabilities and limitations.
The behavioural training included the provision of a checklist known as ‘CHAT’, pioneered by Emily Shaw in the University’s Faculty of Engineering. The other group trained by reading an operating manual.
Key findings found in the behavioural training group:
- Significantly more likely to notice a potential hazard during the transition from automated to manual driving (in this case, a tailgating car), with 90% of drivers noticing the car in this group, compared to 24% of the operating manual group
- Made more measured decisions in lane change manoeuvre shortly after taking back manual control
- Spent more time preparing (e.g. acquiring knowledge of the road environment through mirror checks) before physically making the lane change
- Made more mirror checks in the run up to and during the lane change manoeuvre
- Checked their mirrors more frequently, even while the car was driving autonomously
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