Effect of different alcohol levels on take-over performance in conditionally automated driving
DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2018.03.001
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Summary
This study investigates the impact of alcohol consumption on driver performance during take-over situations in conditionally automated driving (SAE Level 3). While previous research has examined factors like drowsiness and non-driving related tasks, the influence of alcohol—a major cause of accidents in manual driving—had not been addressed in the context of automated vehicles. The authors hypothesized that a false sense of security regarding driver responsibility might encourage driving under the influence, potentially worsening the cognitive and motoric re-engagement required when automation reaches its limits. The experiment utilized a within-subject design with 36 participants (mean age 33) in a high-fidelity, moving-based driving simulator. Drivers completed three separate sessions, each involving a different blood alcohol concentration (BAC): placebo (0.00%), 0.05% (the legal limit in many European countries), and 0.08% (the limit in several US states). To ensure participants were disengaged from the road during automation, they performed a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task. The study included seven take-over scenarios requiring either vehicle stabilization or obstacle avoidance (lane changes or braking), with a 10-second lead time for the take-over request. Dependent measures included take-over time, lateral and longitudinal vehicle control metrics, and subjective ratings of sleepiness and drunkenness. Results indicated that a BAC of 0.08% significantly impaired take-over performance, whereas 0.05% showed only minor, non-significant descriptive impairments. Specifically, the 0.08% condition increased the time required for drivers to place their hands on the steering wheel and deactivate the automation system. This level of intoxication also significantly worsened lateral vehicle control, evidenced by a higher standard deviation of lateral position, and showed non-significant trends toward increased steering wheel velocity and lateral acceleration. Longitudinal control metrics also indicated impairment at the 0.08% level. Subjective reports confirmed that participants accurately perceived their level of drunkenness, and sleepiness levels remained relatively low throughout the sessions, ruling out fatigue as a confounding variable. The findings demonstrate that alcohol consumption, particularly at levels reaching 0.08% BAC, degrades the safety of control transitions in conditionally automated driving. This study highlights a critical safety gap: while automated systems may reduce the driver's active workload, the requirement to serve as a fallback operator remains vulnerable to impairment. The results suggest that legal limits for manual driving may not adequately protect safety in automated contexts, especially given the potential for drivers to underestimate their responsibility. These insights are crucial for developing regulatory frameworks and human-machine interface designs that account for driver fitness in automated vehicles.
Provenance
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | OpenAlex-citations | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-17 |
| archive | success | openalex | — | — | 5 | 2026-06-25 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-25 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-18 |
| chunk | success | chunk | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-18 |
| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-18 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-17 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 1 | 2026-06-25 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 6 | 2026-06-18 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-26 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-25; verification: verified.
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- Empirical Findings: behavioral performance data
- Theoretical Contribution: conceptual framework