Factors Influencing Perceived Comfort During Driver Take-Overs in Automated Driving
摘要
Driver’s comfort has a significant impact on the driving experience of a vehicle. The investigation of comfort while driving a vehicle as well as in the context of automated driving is an area of intense research. Since the take-over (TO) is a particularly safety-sensitive phase but will be part of the use of automated driving functions (SAE-Level 3 and Level 4), the term of comfort must be examined in this context. This contribution identified comfort aspects in TO situations and examined the perceived comfort and discomfort in an explorative study in a vehicle mock-up. The questionnaire used was derived from Helander & Zhang (1997) and Brooke’s SUS (1996). Compared to an auditory-only take-over request (TOR) signal, a multi-stage TOR, a vibro-tactile TOR, a customized TO time budget, interruptions during the non-driving related activity, visual supports for handling objects and an AR assistance increase the perceived comfort, whereby the AR assistance even increases the perceived comfort and decreases the perceived discomfort significantly. The findings presented here serve as first design recommendations for TO, but need to be further elaborated, e.g., regarding different non-driving related activities, further comfort aspects and personality traits. Investigating comfort and discomfort in a dynamic driving simulator could lead to further relevant insights.