PAD Seminar, Prof Natasha Merat

Using drivers’ eye movements to understand driver attention during different stages of SAE Level 2 and 3 automated driving

As the degree of automation in vehicles increases, and humans are no longer required to manage the moment to moment control of the vehicle, they are likely to engage in other, non-driving-related, tasks, which takes their attention away from the road and vehicle environment. However, since automated vehicles are not yet capable of handling every eventuality,  drivers are still required to take control of the driving task, sometimes within seconds. Ensuring the vehicle is capable of taking control safely, and does not lose situation awareness is an important consideration, with standardisation organisations such as Euro NCAP considering the use of “driver monitoring systems” to ensure the driver is always “in the loop”.  In this talk, I will provide an overview of how we have used driver monitoring and eye tracking cameras in our driving simulator to establish how and where drivers divert their visual attention, when engaged in L2 and L3 automated driving, and what this means in terms of their ability to safely resume control from automation. Suggestions of how this knowledge may inform the design of future driver monitoring systems and in-vehicle HMI will be made.