The Effect of Surrounding Scenery Complexity on the Transfer of Control Time in Highly Automated Driving

One challenge in highly automated driving is the safe transfer of control (ToC). A safe ToC requires estimating the take-over time depending on the driver's state in different environmental conditions, to adapt the timing and design of the ToC request. We introduce environmental complexity as one factor that affects the ToC time. In a driving simulator experiment (N=12), the participants drove in five scenes having different environmental complexities (i.e. density and height of the background objects) with and without a secondary task. The results revealed that the ToC time is proportional to the environmental complexity. Thus, in the same driving task and the same traffic, an increasing environmental complexity yields higher ToC times in both conditions, with and without a secondary task. Our model of environmental complexity is a first step towards measuring the complexity of the real world, for a better prediction of ToC times in highly automated driving.

Automated summary

This study investigates the impact of environmental complexity on the transfer of control time in highly automated driving, finding that the ToC time is proportional to the complexity of the environment. This model provides a first step towards measuring real-world complexity for better prediction of ToC times.