Mandy Dotzauer

Interaction design for nomadic devices in highly automated vehicles

Following the roadmaps of (inter)national committees, highly automated driving will be available in the next decade in production vehicles. This technology allows the driver to do some other tasks while driving and to remain only as a fallback in situations the automation is not capable to handle. This study tested if nomadic devices, that drivers might use while driving highly automated, can be integrated to support the driver in taking over control when requested. 33 drivers participated in a simulator study and drove in a highly automated vehicle on a motorway. The results showed that the takeover performance of drivers improve if the takeover request is displayed additionally on the nomadic device. Therefore, the integration of additional interfaces such as smartphones into a holistic interaction concept may be a key aspect for designing a secure and comfortable takeover process.

Multi-Road User Simulation: Methodological Considerations from Study Planning to Data Analysis

Since a few years, multi-road user simulators offer the possibility to investigate social interactions in virtual study environments. However, this new tool requires an own study methodology. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is an encompassing methodological consideration of multi-road user simulations. The methodological conclusions of several studies using various multi-road user simulations (driver-driver simulation, multi-driver simulation, driver-pedestrian-simulation, driver-motorcyclist simulation) during the UR:BAN project are summarized and demands and recommendations concerning study planning, study conduction and data analysis are presented. The benefits and challenges of multi-road user simulations are compared to single-driver simulations. Finally, it is considered for which research questions the multi-road user simulation is appropriate.

Understanding interactions between bicyclists and motorists in intersections

Especially in urban areas, more people choose the bicycle over the car in order to get from point A to point B. On the downside, more bicyclist in the streets resulted in a 50 percent increase of fatalities. Last year, in Germany, bicyclist accounted for twelve percent of all fatalities. Research shows that a major contributing factor to those fatalities is ‘insufficient cooperation’ between bicyclists and motorists. Nonetheless, most encounters of bicyclists and motorists neither result in conflicts nor in fatal crashes. In order to investigate interaction patterns between bicyclists and motorists, those road users were observed at a busy intersection in Braunschweig for a period of five working days. Situations, recorded at the AIM research intersection, in which motorists turned right and bicyclists went straight through the intersection, were analyzed. The goal was to understand the behavior and the underlying mechanism, quantify the observed behavior, and identify objective parameters to map the behavior. As a result, the knowledge may be used to implement strategies and technologies that may predict and prevent fatal crashes in intersections.

Encounters Between Drivers with and Without Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems

Cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) are among the most promising innovations in present automobile industry. When evaluating those systems, possible effects on surrounding traffic have not been investigated properly. The necessity to research encounters of drivers with and without such systems is discussed. Tools, methods and parameters to enable researching these encounters are outlined and argued in terms of their advantages and disadvantages. First study results focusing on encounters of unequipped vehicles’ drivers (UVDs) with a driver with traffic light assistance system are presented. The study results and their implications highlight the need for system developers and researchers to take effects on UVDs into account for the development and evaluation of C-ITS. Remaining unanswered questions are presented to pave the way for new research initiatives.