The Effect of Surrounding Scenery Complexity on the Transfer of Control Time in Highly Automated Driving

Title of the Paper

The Effect of Surrounding Scenery Complexity on the Transfer of Control Time in Highly Automated Driving

Paper Information

• Research Area: Human-Computer Interaction and Autonomous Driving, focusing on the impact of environmental complexity on transfer of control time in highly automated driving.
• Keywords: Highly Automated Driving, Transfer of Control, Simulated Driving Study, Environmental Complexity, Secondary Task

Research Background and Problem

• Identified Issues or Challenges:

  • A key challenge in highly automated driving is the safe transfer of control from the vehicle to the driver.
  • Transfer of control time is influenced by various factors such as traffic density, secondary tasks, and driver state, but previous studies have not focused on the impact of static environmental background complexity on transfer of control time.

• Significance:

  • As autonomous driving technology approaches SAE Level 3, driving assistance scenarios are becoming increasingly complex, making it crucial to understand transfer of control time.
  • Designing transfer of control interactions tailored to different environments can enhance safety and user experience.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  • Transfer of control time is a critical metric for autonomous driving technology, with many studies exploring the effects of driver attention, secondary tasks, and visual distraction on transfer of control.
  • Existing research lacks investigation into the complexity of non-dynamic environments (e.g., building density and height), which can also affect driver reaction time and operational quality.

Proposed Solution

• Proposed Method or Solution:

  • Introduce "environmental complexity" as a new factor influencing transfer of control time.
  • Develop a layered model of static environmental complexity, including building density and façade area around the road.

• Innovations:

  • Incorporating environmental complexity into transfer of control time research, addressing the gap in existing studies regarding static scenarios.
  • Avoiding interference from dynamic factors, focusing on driver responses to non-dynamic environmental changes.

• Implementation Steps and Key Techniques:

  • Use a driving simulator to design five environmental complexity scenarios (ranging from simple and open to densely packed high-rise areas).
  • Test drivers' transfer of control processes under two task conditions (with and without secondary tasks).
  • Analyze transfer of control time data using ANOVA and validate linear trends.

Research Findings

• Specific Findings:

  • Environmental complexity is positively correlated with transfer of control time; the more complex the environment, the longer the transfer time required by drivers.
  • The presence of secondary tasks significantly increases transfer of control time, with transfer time under secondary task conditions being approximately 1.8 times that of no-task conditions.

• Advantages Compared to Existing Solutions:

  • Provides a more granular analysis of environmental complexity, enabling predictions of transfer of control time in different scenarios.
  • Expands the focus of existing studies on dynamic traffic scenarios by addressing static environmental complexity, offering new references for designing transfer of control interactions.

• Experimental/Evaluation Results:

  • In the most complex environmental scenario (EC Level 5), the average transfer of control time was 4.94 seconds without secondary tasks and 10.32 seconds with secondary tasks.
  • ANOVA confirmed the significant impact of environmental complexity and secondary tasks on transfer of control time, with both showing linear increasing trends.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • The experiment was conducted in a simulated driving environment, and the results may not fully reflect the complexity of real-world dynamic environments.
  • Future work will extend to real-world testing to validate the relationship between environmental complexity and transfer of control time, and explore other related factors such as user trust and emotional state.

Conclusion

This paper introduces environmental complexity as a new influencing factor and systematically analyzes its relationship with transfer of control time, providing valuable references for human-computer interaction design in highly automated driving. The findings indicate that higher environmental complexity and secondary tasks significantly prolong transfer of control time, offering insights for designing safe transfer interactions and appropriate alert timing. Future work will further validate the practicality of this model and expand to real-world driving scenarios.