Predicting the effects of time-gaps for adaptive cruise control (ACC) on bus driver performance

Abstract

Researchers have a deal of attention to the effects on driver performance when driving with assist systems. This article describes modeling approach to simulate the effects of time-gaps for adaptive cruise control (ACC) on bus driver's performance. A concept model was built with the knowledge of modularization, parameterization, and parallel processing. By running the model, the predictions for the effects of five levels of time-gaps were collected in two measures, mean gap and minimum gap. Predictions from the model were validated by the experiment with a verified fix-based bus driving simulator in authors' previous studies. Through the modeling approach, this research provides a theoretical and accurate way to assess effects of time-gaps. To apply this approach to the evaluation on other driving assist systems (e.g. collision warning systems & navigation systems) is the next topic for authors to work on. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.