An Experimental Study of Human Operator Models and Closed-Loop Analysis Methods for High-Speed Automobile Driving

Abstract

The investigation described in this paper was aimed at obtaining information about the way in which the human being controls an automobile at high speed on a winding road. A dynamic systems approach was taken, and three different classes of models were postulated. The optimal models in these classes were then obtained for data taken from three subjects in a driving simulation which projected a large moving roadway image. The three subjects were chosen in such a way as to make possible 1) a comparison of driving behavior and compensatory tracking behavior of subjects with similar backgrounds, and 2) a comparison of driving behavior of a male subject with technical training and driving behavior of a female subject without technical training. This behavior was quantitatively defined by synthesizing optimal models from the experimental data, using the digital computer. The models were then used to perform close-loop man-machine system servo-analyses of the automobile driving tasks and the corresponding tracking tasks. It is clearly demonstrated that, under idealized conditions, standard control system techniques may be extended to make possible the quantitative study of the control of an automobile at high speed by a human operator. Copyright © 1967 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.