ABSTRACT
There is a trend to concentrate on the failure of driver automation systems (e.g., Desmond, Hancock and Monette, 1998; De Waard et al., 1999) rather than how they will operate in normal use. This is understandable. But whilst it is prudent to consider the safety-critical aspects of any new technology, it might also be considered limiting to focus on the downsides. Indeed, human factors is in danger of being ignored by engineers if it keeps emphasising the negative without communicating how best to implement new technology. The current movement is towards proactive design solutions rather than reacting to accidents or failures (e.g., Wickens, Gordon and Liu, 1998). In that vein, we have argued that research effort might be better spent investigating how we should design automation systems to optimise performance, given that its implementation is inevitable. The question is: what aspects of driver psychology are likely to be important? How do the multitude of factors interrelate? Now is the time to begin tying together some of the themes covered in previous chapters, using ACC to explore the interrelations between the various psychological factors in play (such as trust, SA, workload and so on) and the psychological model of driver automation that binds them together.
