Driving simulation study for the analysis of distraction effects in longitudinal driving behaviour
This paper is presenting a driver behaviour investigation conducted within the framework of ISi-PADAS (Integrated Human Modelling and Simulation to support Human Error Risk Analysis of Partially Autonomous Driver Assistance Systems) European Project under the 7th Framework Programme (FP7), running from September 2008 to September 2011. This research has been developed at an initial phase of the project to support the conception of a new driver assistance system aimed at improving longitudinal driving by means of information, warning and intervention strategies. In this research, the contribution to the system conception is based on providing a knowledge base of driver behaviour through the conduction of simulator experiments, so that driver modelling can be supported by driving performance data corresponding to specific scenarios of interest. In particular, this paper is aimed at investigating driver behaviour under different circumstances, namely, different longitudinal driving scenarios and distraction caused by a visual and a cognitive secondary task while driving. This way, visual and cognitive distraction effects on longitudinal driving can be analysed, focusing on the driving situations of interest. This paper provides a thorough description of the rationale behind the investigation and describes the methodology and procedure used for the experiments conduction. Moreover, the main results achieved through this research and how these results are linked to the modelling phase inside the ISi-PADAS project are covered within this paper.
driving simulator longitudinal driving driver behaviour secondary task cognitive distraction visual distraction