Matthias Heesen

Towards a dynamic balance between humans and automation: authority, ability, responsibility and control in shared and cooperative control situations

Progress enables the creation of more automated and intelligent machines with increasing abilities that open up new roles between humans and machines. Only with a proper design for the resulting cooperative human–machine systems, these advances will make our lives easier, safer and enjoyable rather than harder and miserable. Starting from examples of natural cooperative systems, the paper investigates four cornerstone concepts for the design of such systems: ability, authority, control and responsibility, as well as their relationship to each other and to concepts like levels of automation and autonomy. Consistency in the relations between these concepts is identified as an important quality for the system design. A simple graphical tool is introduced that can help to visualize the cornerstone concepts and their relations in a single diagram. Examples from the automotive domain, where a cooperative guidance and control of highly automated vehicles is under investigation, demonstrate the application of the concepts and the tool. Transitions in authority and control, e.g. initiated by changes in the ability of human or machine, are identified as key challenges. A sufficient consistency of the mental models of human and machines, not only in the system use but also in the design and evaluation, can be a key enabler for a successful dynamic balance between humans and machines.

Improving the driver-automation interaction: an approach using automation uncertainty

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether communicating automation uncertainty improves the driver–automation interaction. Background: A false system understanding of infallibility may provoke automation misuse and can lead to severe consequences in case of automation failure. The presentation of automation uncertainty may prevent this false system understanding and, as was shown by previous studies, may have numerous benefits. Few studies, however, have clearly shown the potential of communicating uncertainty information in driving. The current study fills this gap. Method: We conducted a driving simulator experiment, varying the presented uncertainty information between participants (no uncertainty information vs. uncertainty information) and the automation reliability (high vs. low) within participants. Participants interacted with a highly automated driving system while engaging in secondary tasks and were required to cooperate with the automation to drive safely. Results: Quantile regressions and multilevel modeling showed that the presentation of uncertainty information increases the time to collision in the case of automation failure. Furthermore, the data indicated improved situation awareness and better knowledge of fallibility for the experimental group. Consequently, the automation with the uncertainty symbol received higher trust ratings and increased acceptance. Conclusion: The presentation of automation uncertainty through a symbol improves overall driver–automation cooperation. Application: Most automated systems in driving could benefit from displaying reliability information. This display might improve the acceptance of fallible systems and further enhances driver–automation cooperation.

The theater-system technique: agile designing and testing of system behavior and interaction, applied to highly automated vehicles

In this paper, the theater-system technique, a method for agile designing and testing of system behavior and interaction concepts is described. The technique is based on the Wizard-of-Oz approach, originally used for emulating automated speech recognition, and is extended towards an interactive, user-centered design technique. The paper describes the design process using the theater-system technique, the technical build-up of the theater-system, and an application of the technique: the design of a haptic-multimodal interaction strategy for highly automated vehicles. The use of the theater-system in the design process is manifold: It is used for the concrete design work of the design team, for the assessment of user expectations as well as for early usability assessments, extending the principles of user-centered design towards a dynamically balanced design.

Shared and cooperative movement control of intelligent technical systems: Sketch of the design space of haptic-multimodal coupling between operator, co-automation, base system and environment

Abstract This paper sketches the concept of haptic-multimodal coupling between operator, co-automation, base system and environment. Haptic-multimodal couplings use mainly the haptic interaction resource, e.g. the combination of hands and feet with active inceptors like active sidesticks or steering wheels and complement this with e.g. visual and acoustic feedback. Haptic-multimodal couplings can serve as a base for shared control, and, if the co-automation has a minimum of understanding of and reactivity to the human operator, for a cooperative control between operator and automation. The paper gives a brief introduction of shared and cooperative control, starting with examples in the non-technical world and sketches the basic structure the couplings and coupling schemes. While much of the design space is yet to be explored and described more systematically, some combinations of haptic-multimodal couplings can already be applied, for example to the cooperative control of an intelligent ground vehicle or in telerobotics. The paper briefly describes examples of an automation-initiated de-coupling of a driver and of a helicopter pilot in case of an emergency maneuver and the coupling between an operator and a satellite control for a berthing maneuver.

Validation of the MoSAIC-Driving Simulator – Investigating the impact of a human driver on cooperative driving behavior in an experimental simulation setup

The “Modular and Scalable Application Platform for ITS Components” (MoSAIC) offers the possibility to investigate cooperative driving behavior. MoSAIC consists of three driving-simulators linked together, allowing participants to drive within the same simulation. The goal of the study was to examine whether knowledge of another real driver would have an impact on cooperative driving behavior. Participants were forced to overtake a car on a motorway, while a third car was approaching from behind. Twenty people participated, of which ten were told that the approaching car was simulated by a computer and ten were told that another participant would be steering the car. However, the car was always controlled by one of the investigators. To examine cooperative driving behavior Time Headway, a measure of distance relative to speed, and the participants’ intentions were used to label a behavior as cooperative. Further the participants’ perceived risk and perceived cooperation were recorded. Significant group differences were discovered regarding the intentions, perceived risks and perceived cooperation.

H-Mode 2D

Vor dem Hintergrund wachsender technischer Moglichkeiten im Bereich der Assistenz und Automation entstehen vielfaltige Herausforderungen, Risiken und Chancen in der Gestaltung des assistierten, teil- und hochautomatisierten Fahrens. Eine der grosten Herausforderungen besteht darin, eine Vielzahl von komplexen technischen Funktionen so zu integrieren und dem Menschen anzubieten, dass sie intuitiv als ein zusammenhangendes, mit dem Fahrer kooperierendes System verstanden und jederzeit zuverlassig, sicher und angenehm bedient werden konnen. Dabei verschwimmen die Grenzen zwischen Assistenz und Automation zunehmend und es wird notwendig, einander erganzende Assistenz- und Automationsgrade zu definieren [1]. Somit ist es sinnvoll, einen starkeren Fokus auf die Einbeziehung des Menschen im Sinne einer kognitiven Kompatibilitat und im Hinblick auf das Vertrauen zwischen Mensch und Automation bzw. Assistenz (vgl. [2, 3] und Kap. 58) sowie auch dem Menschen im Entwicklungsprozess zu legen [4].