Affective driving

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss how emotion may play important role in driving especially in terms of driving safety. Vehicle driving is a life-critical process and is pervasive in our daily life. Emotion is, however, often considered to be not particularly relevant to vehicle driving, with the arguments: (1) safety takes precedence over any emotional needs, so any driver assistance systems (DAS) should only look at the driver's performance and not emotion, and (2) emotion does not significantly change driving performance. However, several studies conducted by us reveal that emotion can be as important as fatigue in driving applications, and research on how DAS may help to regulate drivers' emotions is highly needed. This chapter gives an overview of our research, leading to the view that future DAS need to consider emotion. At the end, there is an outline of the existing issues and future research directions on incorporating emotion in the design and management of vehicle and transportation systems. © 2011 Springer-Verlag London Limited.