Displaying System Situation Awareness Increases Driver Trust in Automated Driving

Self-driving systems are expected to become increasingly popular in the foreseeable future. However, a driver who is out of the control loop might reduce overall situation awareness by overly trusting automated driving systems. Alternatively, the introduction of automated driving systems could lead to misuse or disuse. For these reasons, an automated driving system should encourage appropriate driver reliance to achieve social acceptance. Imperfect information of the system sensing range might adversely affect trust. This study used a vibrotactile display with an automated driving system to provide situation awareness. The display contributes to driver trust by enabling a driver to predict or perceive actions selected by the system. The display provides spatial information related to traffic objects by haptic stimulus. The driving scenario of passing a motorbike with vehicles approaching from behind was considered. The results of this driving simulator study demonstrated that the spatial information and the behavior of the system affected trust.