I've Got the Power: Exploring the Impact of Cooperative Systems on Driver-initiated Takeovers and Trust in Automated Vehicles in Conflicting Situations

Drivers want to retain a sense of control when driving (partially) automated vehicles (AVs). Future AVs will continue to offer the possibility to drive manually, potentially leading to challenging driver-initiated takeovers (DITs) due to the "out-of-the-loop problem" and reduced driving performance. A driving simulator study (N=24) was conducted to explore whether cooperative systems, without full control of driving tasks, provide a sense of control to mitigate DITs in varying conflict situations. Conflict levels were operationalized by an AV performing overtaking maneuvers under free, 100m, and 50m visibility on a two-lane rural road. Participants experienced three systems: no intervention-, a cooperative choice-, and a manual control system. Results showed that participants had a similar sense of control with the cooperative system compared to the manual one and preferred it over the manual system. The likelihood of DITs increased with conflict intensity, and trust in the AV moderated the conflict-DIT association.