Human factors considerations in the design and development of highly automated driving systems

Abstract

Increasing levels of automation within the driving task has seen the driver’s role change from an active operator to one of a passive monitor. However, systems design has been plagued by criticism for failing to acknowledge the new role of the driver within the system network. To further our understanding of the driver’s role within an automated driving system, the theory of Distributed Cognition was adopted. Distributed Cognition provides a useful framework for the investigation of task partitioning between multiple system agents. A novel Systems Design Framework has been developed as part of this thesis that utilises both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies within the Distributed Cognition paradigm. The framework is divided into two phases, the first phase requires an understanding of how individual system agents function to create models that show how these components share information using Operator Sequence Diagrams whilst empirical methods were used to validate these models in the second phase (e.g. Verbal Protocol Analysis and Network Analysis). These extension methodologies were useful in highlighting a number of design weaknesses, beyond the modelled technological components, that required modification to improve overall system design. The Systems Design Framework has been successfully applied to assist Systems Engineers with a foundation to design and conduct research into the human factors implications of different levels of automation within driving.

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ORCID for Neville Stanton: orcid.org/0000-0002-8562-3279

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