Human factor tests on car demonstrator Deliverable no D6.4. Final draft

Human factor tests on car demonstrator Deliverable no D6.4. Final draft

Schindhelm, R.
Gelau, C.
Montanari, R.
Morreale, D.
Deregibus, E.
Hoedemaeker, D.M.
de Ridder, S.
Piamonte, P.
TNO Technische Menskunde

2003

The main objective of the COMUNICAR on-road tests was to evaluate the effect on driver’s workload, acceptance, system usability and driving performance when using the COMUNICAR multimedia HMI which integrates innovative I/O devices and the Information Manager (IM). All these criteria are expected to support the safe performance of the primary driving task. The present deliverable describes methods and results from the on-road tests which were performed in parallel in Italy and Sweden. In each study a total of 32 subjects performed two test drives in real traffic with an instrumented demonstrator car, one drive with the IM on, the other with the IM off. In both, the Swedish and the Italian study, the RSME data showed no main effect of driving with and without IM, i.e. both conditions did not differ with respect to the overall level of self-reported effort. However, in both data sets a significant interaction between the factors “IM ” (on/off) and “drive order” (the order in which the drives were done) indicated that subjects generally reported higher effort after the first test drive, independent from the status of the IM. But it has to be considered that, as already mentioned, in both drives they have to cope with innovative I/O devices and an high number of incoming info not usual in their standard drive.For the PDT in the Swedish study a strong effect was found for the factor IM indicating that driving with IM led to shorter Ss´ reaction times and therefore to lower workload. PDT performance also was heavily affected by the factor “scenario” due to the different workload levels of the respective traffic situations. The results from the Swedish PDT data replicate in some ways results from recent German-Swedish study (Gelau et al., 2003) where PDT performance turned out to be very sensitive against the demands of traffic situation. Analyses of subjects´ subjective assessments of the system using acceptance scales revealed that both Italian and Swedish ratings showed a tendency towards very positive assessments on the usefulness and satisfying scales. Subjects´ statements on usability supported the notion that the design of I/O devices was highly accepted, especially that of the haptic switch. In the Swedish study the driving performance was significantly affected by the IM. Because of the increased workload when driving without IM, subjects reduced speed thus confirming the expected compensatory driving behaviour. When driving with IM this compensatory driving behaviour was not found due to the lower workload. Furthermore, drivers changed speed to a lower degree when driving with IM. Contrary to the Swedish study no significant effect of IM on driving performance could be found with the Italian results. Deliverable No. D6.4 INT Contract N. IST 11595 As a overall conclusion from the results of the on-road tests it can be assumed that the IM succeeded in positively affecting the safe performance of primary driving task.

Traffic Simulation
traffic
driving simulator

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:896749ca-3269-441f-9ea6-96c88b628000

12779

COMUNICAR Programme IST KA1. Testing demonstration and pilot evaluation Workpackage WP6

report