Takeover Quality: Assessing the Effects of Time Budget and Traffic Density with the Help of a Trajectory-Planning Method

In highly automated driving, the driver can engage in a nondriving task but sometimes has to take over control. We argue that current takeover quality measures, such as the maximum longitudinal acceleration, are insufficient because they ignore the criticality of the scenario. This paper proposes a...

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Main Authors: Fabian Doubek, Erik Loosveld, Riender Happee, Joost de Winter
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2020-01-01
Series:Journal of Advanced Transportation
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/6173150
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author Fabian Doubek
Erik Loosveld
Riender Happee
Joost de Winter
author_facet Fabian Doubek
Erik Loosveld
Riender Happee
Joost de Winter
author_sort Fabian Doubek
collection DOAJ
description In highly automated driving, the driver can engage in a nondriving task but sometimes has to take over control. We argue that current takeover quality measures, such as the maximum longitudinal acceleration, are insufficient because they ignore the criticality of the scenario. This paper proposes a novel method of quantifying how well the driver executed an automation-to-manual takeover by comparing human behaviour to optimised behaviour as computed using a trajectory planner. A human-in-the-loop study was carried out in a high-fidelity 6-DOF driving simulator with 25 participants. The takeover required a lane change to avoid roadworks on the ego-lane while taking other traffic into consideration. Each participant encountered six different takeover scenarios, with a different time budget (5 s, 7 s, or 20 s) and traffic density level (low or medium). Results showed that drivers exhibited a considerably higher longitudinal and lateral acceleration than the optimised behaviour, especially in the short time budget scenarios. In scenarios of medium traffic density, the trajectory planner showed a moderate deceleration to let a vehicle in the left lane pass; many participants, on the other hand, did not decelerate before making a lane change, resulting in a dangerous emergency brake of the left-lane vehicle. In conclusion, our results illustrate the value of assessing human takeover behaviour relative to optimised behaviour. Using the trajectory planner, we showed that human drivers are unable to behave optimally in urgent scenarios and that, in some conditions, a medium deceleration, as opposed to a maximal or minimal deceleration, is optimal.
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spelling doaj-art-d7f6b28f45b6473799ef627ba426037f2025-02-03T01:28:10ZengWileyJournal of Advanced Transportation0197-67292042-31952020-01-01202010.1155/2020/61731506173150Takeover Quality: Assessing the Effects of Time Budget and Traffic Density with the Help of a Trajectory-Planning MethodFabian Doubek0Erik Loosveld1Riender Happee2Joost de Winter3Department of Cognitive Robotics, Delft University of Technology, Delft, NetherlandsDepartment of Cognitive Robotics, Delft University of Technology, Delft, NetherlandsDepartment of Cognitive Robotics, Delft University of Technology, Delft, NetherlandsDepartment of Cognitive Robotics, Delft University of Technology, Delft, NetherlandsIn highly automated driving, the driver can engage in a nondriving task but sometimes has to take over control. We argue that current takeover quality measures, such as the maximum longitudinal acceleration, are insufficient because they ignore the criticality of the scenario. This paper proposes a novel method of quantifying how well the driver executed an automation-to-manual takeover by comparing human behaviour to optimised behaviour as computed using a trajectory planner. A human-in-the-loop study was carried out in a high-fidelity 6-DOF driving simulator with 25 participants. The takeover required a lane change to avoid roadworks on the ego-lane while taking other traffic into consideration. Each participant encountered six different takeover scenarios, with a different time budget (5 s, 7 s, or 20 s) and traffic density level (low or medium). Results showed that drivers exhibited a considerably higher longitudinal and lateral acceleration than the optimised behaviour, especially in the short time budget scenarios. In scenarios of medium traffic density, the trajectory planner showed a moderate deceleration to let a vehicle in the left lane pass; many participants, on the other hand, did not decelerate before making a lane change, resulting in a dangerous emergency brake of the left-lane vehicle. In conclusion, our results illustrate the value of assessing human takeover behaviour relative to optimised behaviour. Using the trajectory planner, we showed that human drivers are unable to behave optimally in urgent scenarios and that, in some conditions, a medium deceleration, as opposed to a maximal or minimal deceleration, is optimal.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/6173150
spellingShingle Fabian Doubek
Erik Loosveld
Riender Happee
Joost de Winter
Takeover Quality: Assessing the Effects of Time Budget and Traffic Density with the Help of a Trajectory-Planning Method
Journal of Advanced Transportation
title Takeover Quality: Assessing the Effects of Time Budget and Traffic Density with the Help of a Trajectory-Planning Method
title_full Takeover Quality: Assessing the Effects of Time Budget and Traffic Density with the Help of a Trajectory-Planning Method
title_fullStr Takeover Quality: Assessing the Effects of Time Budget and Traffic Density with the Help of a Trajectory-Planning Method
title_full_unstemmed Takeover Quality: Assessing the Effects of Time Budget and Traffic Density with the Help of a Trajectory-Planning Method
title_short Takeover Quality: Assessing the Effects of Time Budget and Traffic Density with the Help of a Trajectory-Planning Method
title_sort takeover quality assessing the effects of time budget and traffic density with the help of a trajectory planning method
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/6173150
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AT rienderhappee takeoverqualityassessingtheeffectsoftimebudgetandtrafficdensitywiththehelpofatrajectoryplanningmethod
AT joostdewinter takeoverqualityassessingtheeffectsoftimebudgetandtrafficdensitywiththehelpofatrajectoryplanningmethod