ABSTRACT
A critical question being asked by many vehicle manufacturers is what actually happens when the driver finds themselves being ‘hands and feet free’ within their vehicles. This case study was used as an investigation into the functionality of Driver-Initiated Automation (both system capabilities and architectural issues) at a very early phase of system development. Using a selection of popular Human Factors tools, a multidisciplinary team of researchers, engineers and systems designers wanted to explore how the use of a highly instrumented vehicle could be used in extending our understanding of driver–vehicle interaction patterns under high levels of driving automation. The use of a highly instrumented vehicle offers a step forward from traditional driving simulator studies (Valero-Mora et al., 2013) as research can be carried out in a more naturalistic driving environment.
