ABSTRACT
By conducting a review of the contemporary literature on control transitions describing response times ranging from 2 to 3.5 seconds in critical situations with varying lead times, a knowledge vacuum pertaining to the control transition process in higher levels of automation (SAE Level 4) was identified. Thus, this chapter examines how long drivers take to resume control in non-critical situations from a highly automated vehicle in two conditions, with and without a secondary task, when prompted to resume control in a driving simulator. This chapter found that automating the driving task has a detrimental effect on driver reaction time. Adequate reaction times are crucial to the feasibility of the lower levels of automation (SAE Level 2–3), as drivers are expected to be able to intervene at a moment’s notice, meaning that the process of resuming control is of utmost importance to study. These results are then contrasted with the results described in the 25 papers included in the literature review.
Moreover, a further knowledge gap was identified, as there are no reports in the contemporary literature regarding how long it takes drivers to transition from manual to automated driving modes, something that is crucial when designing vehicle platooning. Thus, Chapter 4 addresses this by determining a range of times that drivers take to make the transition from manual to automated driving.
