Working or napping in driverless cars? Study warns against it

By Jim Leffman via SWNS

If you think driverless cars will mean you can grab a snooze or catch up with your work, think again.

A new study shows passengers will still need to be vigilant in case of emergency and that working or having a nap are the worst things to be doing.

The team from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, looked at what happens if a 'driver' is suddenly required to take control of an automated car in an emergency.

They looked at how three types of distractions, work, social media and rest impacted on the driver’s ability to respond.

Volunteers used a Level 3 driverless car simulator for the study.

There are five levels of vehicle automation. Already, Level 1 and Level 2 are common through features such as lane keeping, automated parking and cruise control.

More advanced automated vehicles, what we think of when we say ‘driverless cars’, are currently being trialed but are not yet commercially available.

Lead author in the School of Engineering, Dr Neng Zhang said: “In Level 3 and 4 automated driving, the human driver will still need to respond in an emergency, taking control of the vehicle.

“We had them writing business emails (working condition), watching videos (entertaining condition), and taking a break with their eyes closed (resting condition).

“These tasks required drivers to invest high, moderate, and low levels of mental workload.

"We tested their responses after a short interval (5 minutes) or long interval (30 minutes) of participating in one of these tasks.

"All of these tasks worsened the takeover and led to a period of poorer driving.

“We found that resting resulted in the worst takeover response, followed by working.

"Social media was less disruptive. However, the longer the participant engaged in an activity, the worse their response was to an emergency.”

They found that younger drivers were slower at responding, though it was the number of miles they had driven, not how long they had been driving which was the decisive factor.

Dr. Zhang said: “We found that driving experience and takeover performance were highly correlated, with inexperienced drivers with less than 20,000 kilometers of driving experience responding more slowly and less effectively.

"The distance driven since gaining a driver's license is more important than the number of years since the license was issued.

“Our findings highlight the need for vehicle manufacturers and licensing authorities to develop solutions that ensure that conditionally automated vehicles are safe for drivers with varying experience levels.”

Biomedical researcher and author on the papers, Professor Stephen Robinson, warned that emergencies require a high level of cognition.

He said: “As soon as something unexpected happens, such as a child running across the road, we need to be able to use our full cognitive abilities to assess the situation and take appropriate action.

“Takeover requests in automated vehicles occur when the onboard computer lacks the capacity to deal with changed or complex driving conditions.

"Such conditions are potentially dangerous and require the driver to focus quickly and act decisively to keep our roads safe.”

The researchers say the study, published in the Journal of Safety Research, could help to draft policies for driverless car use before they are available.

Dr. Zhang said: “This data is a starting place for regulation and could lead to data-backed legislation that ensures drivers are given enough time to respond quickly and flawlessly to emergency events.”

The team is now investigating how to stimulate alertness and improve the effectiveness of driver takeovers.

Professor Mohammad Fard added: "The aim of our work is to enhance ‘human-automation interaction’ for autonomous vehicles and significantly improve the way humans interact with and control these advanced autonomous vehicles, leading to enhanced efficiency and safety in their operation."