Systematic Review of Research on Driver Distraction in the Context of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) promise improved driving performance and safety. With ADAS taking on more vehicle control tasks, the driver’s role may be reduced to that of passive supervision. This in turn may increase drivers’ engagement in non-driving-related tasks, thereby potentially reducing any promised safety benefit. We conducted a systematic review, in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, to study the relationship between ADAS use and driver distraction. Four research questions were addressed—two questions examined the effect of ADAS on secondary task engagement, and the quality of secondary task performance, and two addressed the effects of ADAS on driver attention and on driver behavior changes caused by secondary task engagement. Twenty-nine papers were selected for full text synthesis. The majority of the papers indicate an association between ADAS and increased secondary task engagement, as well as improved secondary task performance. Ten papers reported that drivers tend to divert their attention to secondary tasks and away from driving tasks. These outcomes highlight the continued importance of the role of the human driver despite vehicle automation, especially in the context of driver distraction, and that user understanding of ADAS functionalities and limitations is essential to appropriate and effective use of these systems.