Functioning and Acceptance of Overtaking Assistant Design Tested in Driving Simulator Experiment

Abstract

This paper describes a driving simulator experiment to test the functioning and acceptance of a standardized overtaking assistant design. On a simulated two-lane road, 24 participants drove 15 min with and without a prototype overtaking assistant. The overtaking assistant calculated the available time to perform an overtaking maneuver, taking the preceding vehicle and opposing traffic into account. When it was safe to overtake, the assistant showed a green sign to participants; when it was not safe, a red sign was shown. The number of overtaking maneuvers performed in the base scenario (without assistance) did not vary significantly from that in the assistant scenario. Male participants, however, did overtake significantly more than female participants. The reported activation level of all participants had grown significantly after the run with the overtaking assistant, compared with a similar run without assistance. Participants’ ratings for the usefulness of the assistant and on how satisfying it was were both low; some participants thought the assistant was too careful (shows a red sign while it is safe to overtake), and others thought it was not careful enough (shows a green sign while it is not safe to overtake). The overtaking frequency of participants was not significantly related to sensation-seeking scores, which are highly related to risky driving. It was concluded that according to the performance of the overtaking maneuvers, it is possible to design a standardized overtaking assistant. However, it should be possible to improve the system to suit the different drivers’ perceptions better.