Prediction of take-over time in highly automated driving by two psychometric tests

Körber, Moritz; Weißgerber, Thomas; Blaschke, Christoph; Farid, Mehdi; Kalb, Luis · 2015 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.15446/dyna.v82n193.53496

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Summary

This study investigates whether individual differences in multitasking ability and reaction time can predict a driver’s take-over time (TOT) in highly automated driving scenarios. As automation shifts the driver’s role from active control to passive monitoring, drivers may enter an "out-of-the-loop" state, characterized by reduced situational awareness and delayed responses when regaining control is required. The authors hypothesized that multitasking performance would negatively correlate with TOT, while individual reaction time would positively correlate with TOT, with both factors exerting independent influences. The experiment involved 23 participants who first completed two psychometric tests: a multitasking test (MT) requiring simultaneous performance of a perceptual vigilance task and a visual search task, and a simple reaction time test (SRT). Subsequently, participants drove in a static simulator for approximately 38 minutes under high automation while engaging in a visual-manual secondary task (Surrogate Reference Task). During the drive, they encountered five take-over situations triggered by acoustic signals when the automation reached its limits. The primary dependent variable was the TOT, defined as the time elapsed between the take-over request and the driver’s conscious intervention. Eye-tracking data were also collected to analyze gaze distribution between the secondary task and the road environment. The results indicated that multitasking performance significantly predicted TOT in the first two take-over situations, even when controlling for reaction time. Specifically, poorer multitaskers exhibited longer take-over times and allocated more visual attention to the secondary task rather than the road. However, this predictive relationship diminished in subsequent situations as participants adapted to the task. In contrast, individual reaction time was not a significant predictor of TOT in any situation. Analysis of performance quartiles revealed that while the majority of participants improved their TOT over time, a stable performance gap persisted between the worst and best multitaskers throughout the experiment. The findings suggest that stable individual differences in multitasking ability influence a driver’s capacity to manage dual-task demands in automated driving, particularly during initial exposure to take-over scenarios. The lack of correlation with simple reaction time implies that the complexity of regaining vehicle control—requiring attention relocation, situation assessment, and maneuver execution—differs fundamentally from simple stimulus-response tasks. These results highlight the importance of considering individual cognitive traits, such as multitasking proficiency, in the design and safety assessment of automated vehicle systems, especially regarding the transition from automated to manual control.

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Topics

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• takeover transitions
• temporal
• manual
• dual task multitasking
• automation
• automation surprise

Information type

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• Empirical Findings: behavioral performance data
• Methodological Resource: measurement protocol
• Theoretical Contribution: conceptual framework