Analysing the effect of gender on the human–machine interaction in level 3 automated vehicles

Abstract

The emergence of the level 3 automated vehicles (L3 AVs) can enable drivers to be completely disengaged from driving and safely perform other non-driving related tasks, but sometimes their takeover of control of the vehicle is required. The takeover of control is an important human–machine interaction in L3 AVs. However, little research has focused on investigating the effect of gender on takeover performance. In order to fill this research gap, a driving simulator study with 76 drivers (33 females and 43 males) was conducted. The participants took over control from L3 AVs, and the timing and quality of takeover were measured. The results show that although there was no significant difference in most of the measurements adopted to quantify takeover performance between female and male. Gender did affect takeover performance slightly, with women exhibited slightly better performance than men. Compared to men, women exhibited a smaller percentage of hasty takeovers and slightly faster reaction times as well as slightly more stable operation of the steering wheel. The findings highlight that it is important for both genders to recognise they can use and interact with L3 AVs well, and more hands-on experience and teaching sessions could be provided to deepen their understanding of L3 AVs. The design of the car interiors of L3 AVs should also take into account gender differences in the preferences of users for different non-driving related tasks.

Takeover performance of older drivers in automated driving: A review

“…Furthermore, the TTC is even shorter in older-old adults than in younger-old adults (Li et al, 2021). Other studies showed that the TTC did not differ between the two groups (Li et al, 2019a;Li et al, 2019b). One other study showed a contrary result, with longer TTCs in older drivers than in younger drivers (Körber et al, 2016).…”

“…However, four other studies using vehicle speeds of 48 km/h, 96 km/h, and 90km/h in the automated driving phase showed greater steering wheel variability and a higher number of collisions (Li et al, 2018;Li et al, 2019b;Li et al, 2021;Peng & Iwaki, 2020). Only one of the studies in which the speed setting varied showed an impact of the speed setting (88.5 km/h or 104.6 km/h) on maximum lateral offset after the TOR (Favarò et al, 2019).…”

“…In the other 6 studies, the speed setting of the vehicle varied during the automated driving phase (Mok et al, 2016;Favarò et al, 2019;Li et al, 2018;Li et al, 2019a;Li et al, 2019b;Li et al, 2021). Some of the studies that compared the take-over performances of younger and older adults showed similar results, irrespective of vehicle speed (72 km/h, 120 km/h) in the automated phase (Clark & Feng, 2016;Körber et al, 2016): take-over time did not differ between age groups.…”

“…Most studies that have investigated the time aspects of take-over have reported that take-over performance is poorer in older drivers than in younger adults. Take-over times, and the time taken to react to a take-over notification are both longer in older adults than in younger adults (Li et al, 2018;Li et al, 2019a;Li et al, 2019b;Molnar et al, 2017;Wu et al, 2019). This take-over time is even longer in older drivers of a more advanced age (mean age: 75 years-old) (Li et al, 2021).…”

“…The actions of older drivers appeared to be more 'brutal' than those of younger drivers. Older drivers applied more pressure to the brake and throttle during takeover (Clark & Feng, 2016;Körber et al, 2016) and had greater resulting acceleration (Li et al, 2018;Li et al, 2019a;Li et al, 2019b;Li et al, 2021).…”