Validating Operator Event Sequence Diagrams: The case of an automated vehicle to human driver handovers

Abstract

Abstract: Predicting what drivers will do as vehicle control is handed over to them from automation is a relatively new challenge for the motor vehicle industry. Operator Event Sequence Diagrams (OESDs) offer a way of modeling the interactions between the driver and vehicle automation in the handover of control. In this paper, two studies are presented in which a range of handover strategies are tested. The anticipated driver strategies were modeled using OESDs to serve as predictions of driver behavior. Drivers were then observed in two separate studies: (1) using a Lower‐Fidelity (vehicle seat and controls) simulator and (2) using a Higher‐Fidelity (whole vehicle) simulator. Driver behavior during a takeover task was categorized according to the signal detection paradigm into hits, misses, false alarms, and correct rejections. The results showed that for all strategies in both sets of studies, the median criterion for validity was exceeded ( φ > 0.8), suggesting that OESDs made good predictions of driver behavior during the handover of the vehicle from automation to manual control.