Vigilance Decrement During On-Road Partially Automated Driving Across Four Systems

Abstract

Objective: This study uses a detection task to measure changes in driver vigilance when operating four different partially automated systems. Background: Research show temporal declines in detection task performance during manual and fully automated driving, but the accuracy of using this approach for measuring changes in driver vigilance during on-road partially automated driving is yet unproven. Method: Participants drove four different vehicles (Tesla Model 3, Cadillac CT6, Volvo XC90, and Nissan Rogue) equipped with level-2 systems in manual and partially automated modes. Response times to a detection task were recorded over eight consecutive time periods. Results: Bayesian analysis revealed a main effect of time period and an interaction between mode and time period. A main effect of vehicle and a time period x vehicle interaction were also found. Conclusion: Results indicated that the reduction in detection task performance over time was worse during partially automated driving. Vehicle-specific analysis also revealed that detection task performance changed across vehicles, with slowest response time found for the Volvo. Application: The greater decline in detection performance found in automated mode suggests that operating level-2 systems incurred in a greater vigilance decrement, a phenomenon that is of interest for Human Factors practitioners and regulators. We also argue that the observed vehicle-related differences are attributable to the unique design of their in-vehicle interfaces.