scholarly journals An Integrated Model for User State Detection of Subjective Discomfort in Autonomous Vehicles

Vehicles ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 764-777
Author(s):  
Dario Niermann ◽  
Alexander Trende ◽  
Klas Ihme ◽  
Uwe Drewitz ◽  
Cornelia Hollander ◽  
...  

The quickly rising development of autonomous vehicle technology and increase of (semi-) autonomous vehicles on the road leads to an increased demand for more sophisticated human–machine-cooperation approaches to improve trust and acceptance of these new systems. In this work, we investigate the feeling of discomfort of human passengers while driving autonomously and the automatic detection of this discomfort with several model approaches, using the combination of different data sources. Based on a driving simulator study, we analyzed the discomfort reports of 50 participants for autonomous inner city driving. We found that perceived discomfort depends on the driving scenario (with discomfort generally peaking in complex situations) and on the passenger (resulting in interindividual differences in reported discomfort extend and duration). Further, we describe three different model approaches on how to predict the passenger discomfort using data from the vehicle’s sensors as well as physiological and behavioral data from the passenger. The model’s precision varies greatly across the approaches, the best approach having a precision of up to 80%. All of our presented model approaches use combinations of linear models and are thus fast, transparent, and safe. Lastly, we analyzed these models using the SHAP method, which enables explaining the models’ discomfort predictions. These explanations are used to infer the importance of our collected features and to create a scenario-based discomfort analysis. Our work demonstrates a novel approach on passenger state modelling with simple, safe, and transparent models and with explainable model predictions, which can be used to adapt the vehicles’ actions to the needs of the passenger.

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 660-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Udara Eshan Manawadu ◽  
◽  
Masaaki Ishikawa ◽  
Mitsuhiro Kamezaki ◽  
Shigeki Sugano ◽  
...  

<div class=""abs_img""><img src=""[disp_template_path]/JRM/abst-image/00270006/08.jpg"" width=""300"" /> Driving simulator</div>Intelligent passenger vehicles with autonomous capabilities will be commonplace on our roads in the near future. These vehicles will reshape the existing relationship between the driver and vehicle. Therefore, to create a new type of rewarding relationship, it is important to analyze when drivers prefer autonomous vehicles to manually-driven (conventional) vehicles. This paper documents a driving simulator-based study conducted to identify the preferences and individual driving experiences of novice and experienced drivers of autonomous and conventional vehicles under different traffic and road conditions. We first developed a simplified driving simulator that could connect to different driver-vehicle interfaces (DVI). We then created virtual environments consisting of scenarios and events that drivers encounter in real-world driving, and we implemented fully autonomous driving. We then conducted experiments to clarify how the autonomous driving experience differed for the two groups. The results showed that experienced drivers opt for conventional driving overall, mainly due to the flexibility and driving pleasure it offers, while novices tend to prefer autonomous driving due to its inherent ease and safety. A further analysis indicated that drivers preferred to use both autonomous and conventional driving methods interchangeably, depending on the road and traffic conditions.


Author(s):  
Michal Hochman ◽  
Tal Oron-Gilad

This study explored pedestrians’ understanding of Fully Autonomous Vehicle (FAV) intention and what influences their decision to cross. Twenty participants saw fixed simulated urban road crossing scenes with a FAV present on the road. The scenes differed from one another in the FAV’s messages: the external Human-Machine Interfaces (e-HMI) background color, message type and modality, the FAV’s distance from the crossing place, and its size. Eye-tracking data and objective measurements were collected. Results revealed that pedestrians looked at the e-HMI before making their decision; however, they did not always make the decision according to the e-HMIs’ color, instructions (in advice messages), or intention (in status messages). Moreover, when they acted according to the e-HMI proposition, for certain distance conditions, they tended to hesitate before making the decision. Findings suggest that pedestrians’ decision making to cross depends on a combination of the e-HMI implementation and the car distance. Future work should explore the robustness of the findings in dynamic and more complex crossing environments.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (16) ◽  
pp. 88-1-88-5
Author(s):  
Mónica López-González

A primary goal of the auto industry is to revolutionize transportation with autonomous vehicles. Given the mammoth nature of such a target, success depends on a clearly defined balance between technological advances, machine learning algorithms, physical and network infrastructure, safety, standards and regulations, and end-user education. Unfortunately, technological advancement is outpacing the regulatory space and competition is driving deployment. Moreover, hope is being built around algorithms that are far from reaching human-like capacities on the road. Since human behaviors and idiosyncrasies and natural phenomena are not going anywhere anytime soon and so-called edge cases are the roadway norm, the industry stands at a historic crossroads. Why? Because human factors such as cognitive and behavioral insights into how we think, feel, act, plan, make decisions, and problem-solve have been ignored. Human cognitive intelligence is foundational to driving the industry’s ambition forward. In this paper I discuss the role of the human in bridging the gaps between autonomous vehicle technology, design, implementation, and beyond.


Author(s):  
László Orgován ◽  
Tamás Bécsi ◽  
Szilárd Aradi

Autonomous vehicles or self-driving cars are prevalent nowadays, many vehicle manufacturers, and other tech companies are trying to develop autonomous vehicles. One major goal of the self-driving algorithms is to perform manoeuvres safely, even when some anomaly arises. To solve these kinds of complex issues, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning methods are used. One of these motion planning problems is when the tires lose their grip on the road, an autonomous vehicle should handle this situation. Thus the paper provides an Autonomous Drifting algorithm using Reinforcement Learning. The algorithm is based on a model-free learning algorithm, Twin Delayed Deep Deterministic Policy Gradients (TD3). The model is trained on six different tracks in a simulator, which is developed specifically for autonomous driving systems; namely CARLA.


2018 ◽  
Vol 220 ◽  
pp. 02004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Agafonov ◽  
Aleksandr Borodinov

Autonomous vehicle development is one of many trends that will affect future transport demands and planning needs. Autonomous vehicles management in the context of an intelligent transportation system could significantly reduce the traffic congestion level and decrease the overall travel time in a network. In this work, we investigate a route reservation architecture to manage road traffic within an urban area. The routing architecture decomposes road segments into time and spatial slots and for every vehicle, it makes the reservation of the appropriate slots on the road segments in the selected route. This approach allows to predict the traffic in the network and to find the shortest path more precisely. We propose to use a rerouting procedure to improve the quality of the routing approach. Experimental study of the routing architecture is conducted using microscopic traffic simulation in SUMO package.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 345-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agata Kołodziejska ◽  
Karolina Krzykowska ◽  
Mirosław Siergiejczyk

Abstract In recent years, around the world, there has been work underway on systems, which will increase not only the comfort of traveling but, above all, the safety and reliability of the road traffic. The systems in this field, designed to replace human beings in the future, thus eliminating their mistakes on the road, already have their prototypes. However, these prototypes are still being improved and require a lot of work so they could operate fully and reliably. The subject of the publication is a compilation of two new concepts in the field of Intelligent Transport Systems. These concepts are V2V (Vehicle - to - Vehicle) and A2A (Autonomous vehicle - to - Autonomous vehicle). Their comparison was carried out in terms of functionality, communication, vehicle equipment, legal aspects and the anticipated date of their entry into the market. Also examples of first tests and implementations of vehicles with driver assistance systems, and semi-autonomous vehicles were presented.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1021
Author(s):  
Teck Kai Chan ◽  
Cheng Siong Chin

With the concept of Internet-of-Things, autonomous vehicles can provide higher driving efficiency, traffic safety, and freedom for the driver to perform other tasks. This paper first covers enabling technology involving a vehicle moving out of parking, traveling on the road, and parking at the destination. The development of autonomous vehicles relies on the data collected for deployment in actual road conditions. Research gaps and recommendations for autonomous intelligent vehicles are included. For example, a sudden obstacle while the autonomous vehicle executes the parking trajectory on the road is discussed. Several aspects of social problems, such as the liability of an accident affecting the autonomous vehicle, are described. A smart device to detect abnormal driving behaviors to prevent possible accidents is briefly discussed.


Author(s):  
Xing Xu ◽  
Minglei Li ◽  
Feng Wang ◽  
Ju Xie ◽  
Xiaohan Wu ◽  
...  

A human-like trajectory could give a safe and comfortable feeling for the occupants in an autonomous vehicle especially in corners. The research of this paper focuses on planning a human-like trajectory along a section road on a test track using optimal control method that could reflect natural driving behaviour considering the sense of natural and comfortable for the passengers, which could improve the acceptability of driverless vehicles in the future. A mass point vehicle dynamic model is modelled in the curvilinear coordinate system, then an optimal trajectory is generated by using an optimal control method. The optimal control problem is formulated and then solved by using the Matlab tool GPOPS-II. Trials are carried out on a test track, and the tested data are collected and processed, then the trajectory data in different corners are obtained. Different TLCs calculations are derived and applied to different track sections. After that, the human driver’s trajectories and the optimal line are compared to see the correlation using TLC methods. The results show that the optimal trajectory shows a similar trend with human’s trajectories to some extent when driving through a corner although it is not so perfectly aligned with the tested trajectories, which could conform with people’s driving intuition and improve the occupants’ comfort when driving in a corner. This could improve the acceptability of AVs in the automotive market in the future. The driver tends to move to the outside of the lane gradually after passing the apex when driving in corners on the road with hard-lines on both sides.


Author(s):  
Patrice D. Tremoulet ◽  
Thomas Seacrist ◽  
Chelsea Ward McIntosh ◽  
Helen Loeb ◽  
Anna DiPietro ◽  
...  

Objective Identify factors that impact parents’ decisions about allowing an unaccompanied child to ride in an autonomous vehicle (AV). Background AVs are being tested in several U.S. cities and on highways in multiple states. Meanwhile, suburban parents are using ridesharing services to shuttle children from school to extracurricular activities. Parents may soon be able to hire AVs to transport children. Method Nineteen parents of 8- to 16-year-old children, and some of their children, rode in a driving simulator in autonomous mode, then were interviewed. Parents also participated in focus groups. Topics included minimum age for solo child passengers, types of trips unaccompanied children might take, and vehicle features needed to support child passengers. Results Parents would require two-way audio communication and prefer video feeds of vehicle interiors, seatbelt checks, automatic locking, secure passenger identification, and remote access to vehicle information. Parents cited convenience as the greatest benefit and fear that AVs could not protect passengers during unplanned trip interruptions as their greatest concern. Conclusion Manufacturers have an opportunity to design family-friendly AVs from the outset, rather than retrofit them to be safe for child passengers. More research, especially usability studies where families interact with technology prototypes, is needed to understand how AV design impacts child passengers. Application Potential applications of this research include not only designing vehicles that can be used to safely transport children, seniors who no longer drive, and individuals with disabilities but also developing regulations, policies, and societal infrastructure to support safe child transport via AVs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 69-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Oliveira Cruz ◽  
Joaquim Miranda Sarmento

Roads are a central element of transportation systems, enabling economic and social development, fostering territorial cohesion and facilitating the movement of people and cargo. Governments have devoted significant financial resources to developing and improving their road networks, and are still facing increasing pressure to ensure proper maintenance and payments to those concessionaires that developed roads under public–private partnership arrangements. As in other sectors, digitalization is paving a way towards significant changes in the way we build, operate and finance infrastructure. These changes will have a profound impact on the entire life cycle of an infrastructure, from the design and/or construction stage, to its operation and transfer. This article provides an overall overview of the main technological developments which are, or could impact road infrastructure in the short, medium and long term. For each technological development identified in our research, we analyse the potential impact on Capex, Opex and revenues as well as their level of maturity and expected lifetime for mass adoption, and also the main bottlenecks or barriers to implementation. Additionally, we explore potential savings on investment (capex) and operational costs (opex) and increase in revenues, using data from the Portuguese highway companies. Savings can represent almost 30% of capex and opex. Overall, savings and increases in revenues can represent an impact similar to 20–40% of current revenues. The findings show that digitalization and technological development in the road sector can significantly impact the economic performance of roads, thus enhancing the value of money for the society. The findings also show that there might be some excess capacity of road systems once autonomous vehicles achieve higher market penetration. However, there are still some relevant legal, regulatory, institutional and technological and economic barriers that are slowing down the digitalization process.


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