How does relaxing posture influence take-over performance in an automated vehicle?

Abstract

The driver will not have to constantly monitor the vehicle while driving in a level-3 automation or at a higher level (SAE International, 2016), which enables the driver to conduct different activities and be out of the control loop. To achieve the goals of non-driving related tasks (NDRTs) rather than the driving task better, the driver may take other sitting positions, defined as “non-driving postures (NDPs)”. Different pos-tures represent different driver motoric states. This may result in different reactions to a take-over request (TOR). In this work, relaxing NDPs are built by manipulating the driver’s knee angle (133°) and torso an-gle (38°) via seat adjustments. Their take-over performances of each posture are evaluated. The torso angle is identified as a significant influencing factor: the reclined driver takes over more poorly, whereas a larger relaxing knee angle does not affect take-over performance if the heel is able to contact the pedal.