Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-70). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Highly automated driving systems promise increased road traffic safety, as well as positive impacts on sustainable transportation by means of increased traffic efficiency and environmental friendliness. The design and development of such systems require scientific advances in a number of areas. One area is the vehicle's electrical/electronic (E/E) architecture. The E/E architecture can be presented using a number of views, of which an important one is the functional view. The functional view describes the decomposition of the system into its main logical components, along with the hierarchical structure, the component inter-connections, and requirements. When this view captures the principal ideas and patterns that constitute the foundation of a variety of specific architectures, it may be termed as a reference architecture. Two reference architectures for highly automated driving form the principal contribution of this thesis. The first reference architecture is for cooperative driving. In a cooperative driving situation, vehicles and road infrastructure in the vicinity of a vehicle continuously exchange wireless information and this information is then used to control the motion of the vehicle. The second reference architecture is for autonomous driving, wherein the vehicle is capable of driver-less operation even without direct communication with external entities. The description of both reference architectures includes their main components and the rationale for how these components should be distributed across the architecture and its layers. These architectures have been validated via multiple real-world instantiations, and the guidelines for instantiation also form part of the architecture description. A comparison with similar architectures is also provided, in order to highlight the similarities and differences. The comparisons show that in the context of automated driving, the explicit recognition of components for semantic understanding, world modeling, and vehicle platform abstraction are unique to the proposed architecture. These components are not unusual in architectures within the Artificial Intelligence/robotics domains; the proposed architecture shows how they can be applied within the automotive domain. A secondary contribution of this thesis is a description of a lightweight, four step approach for model based systems engineering of highly automated driving systems, along with supporting model classes. The model classes cover the concept of operations, logical architecture, application software components, and the implementation platforms. The thesis also provides an overview of current implementation technologies for cognitive driving intelligence and vehicle platform control, and recommends a specific setup for development and accelerated testing of highly automated driving systems, that includes model- and hardware-in-the-loop techniques in conjunction with a publish/subscribe bus. Beyond the more "traditional" engineering concepts, the thesis also investigates the domain of machine consciousness and computational self-awareness. The exploration indicates that current engineering methods are likely to hit a complexity ceiling, breaking through which may require advances in how safety-critical systems can self-organize, construct, and evaluate internal models to reflect their perception of the world. Finally, the thesis also presents a functional architecture for the brake system of an autonomous truck. This architecture proposes a reconfiguration of the existing brake systems of the truck in a way that provides dynamic, diversified redundancy, and an increase in the system reliability and availability, while meeting safety requirements. / <p>QC 20151216</p>

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Counselling Psychology) in the Department of Psychology, University of Zululand, 2010. / The main objective of this study was to find out the self-perceived psychological factors that may contribute to road rage in Empangeni. A phenomenological approach was adopted in this study to facilitate the understanding of the information gathered. The sample consisted of 10 participants, 9 males and 1 female. All participants were the drivers. Open-ended questions were asked from the participants. The findings of this study revealed the following themes: impatience, frustrations and anger; substance abuse contribution to bad driving; bad mood leading to aggressive driving; disrespecting other road users; poor compliance with the rules of the road; prolonged hours of driving leading to fatigue; family and work related problems impacting on drivers; attention and focus; gender issues; and bad driving viewed on media (television) impacting on drivers. The study concluded with a brief discussion on the limitations of the study and recommendations for future research.

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The following study aimed to understand pure wayfinding search strategies and identify the most efficient strategy when discovering a new environment. Participants performed one drive in a simulated city environment within a driving simulation lab. Their objective was to locate a target within the city, without any navigational aids (maps, GPS, etc.). Efficiency measures, such as number of road segments covered between origin and target, were evaluated. Experience and gender were also analyzed. There was a significant difference of efficiency between search strategies. Experience did not impact a driver’s efficiency. The knowledge from this study can be used in city planning of high tourist areas or major facilities.

Individuals who have Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) experience adverse effects relating to driving; in addition, they experience deficits in scanning ability (Barkely et.al, 1996; Fischer et al., 2007; Munoz et al., 2003; Naja-Raja et al., 2007). The present study examined the effects of ADHD on eye tracking while driving. Ten participants consisting of both ADHD and individuals who do not have ADHD were included in this study. It was hypothesized that individuals who have ADHD will make more saccadic eye movements and thus shorter fixations than individuals who do not have ADHD. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that despite the fact that individuals who have ADHD will make more saccadic eye movements than individuals without ADHD, those individuals with ADHD will commit more traffic violations including collisions compared to individuals who do not have such a diagnosis. Findings indicated that hypothesis one was not supported by the data, whereas hypothesis two was supported in that ADHD individuals had more collisions and committed more traffic violations than the Control group. Additionally, upon conducting a Chi Square test for independence, a significant difference was found in the spatial distributions of the fixations between the ADHD and Control groups. The findings of this study could help better understand the factors involved in ADHD driving and could be used to train individuals with ADHD to become more aware of their surroundings and driving habits and thus become safer drivers.

Driving is a complex task that is highly reliant on attention. Research states that distractions cause performance errors thus it is important to find ways to reduce driver distraction or assist drivers with ways to improve their cognitive resources if distraction is unavoidable. Moreover, research indicates that action video game players outperform non-players on labbased tests of visual and cognitive abilities. However, research also exists that is contrary to these findings. Some researchers suggest that methodological deficiencies could be the cause of the significant findings in the literature. With such fervor of debate on the subject, the question remains of whether players acquire skills through playing action video games and if so can these games be used as research or training tools to enhance performance on realistic tasks. To answer this question, 45 male participants were tested using psychometric measures of spatial ability (Spatial orientation and visualization) and failures of attention (Cognitive Failures Questionnaire), and then all participants drove four 10-minute drives in a driving simulator. The first drive was a practice, followed by a control drive. Participants were then distracted using a hands free phone conversation. Following that, participants completed a final control drive. Both overall video game experience and action video game experience was positively related to higher spatial ability scores. Additionally, participants with higher action game experience exhibited fewer lane deviations during driving overall, but not during the distraction condition. On the other hand, participants with higher spatial ability scores exhibited fewer lane deviations during the distraction condition, but not during the control drives. Furthermore, action video game experience was not significant on the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire. Therefore, it was concluded that individuals who have higher action game experience do not show improvements on any iv abilities of attention tested in this study. However, higher experience action video game players may perform better in simulated environments than those with less experience.

As autonomous vehicles become more prevalent in urban traffic settings, the safety of vulnerable road users, predominantly pedestrians, must be placed in high regard relative to the design of the autonomous vehicle's (AV's) external human machine interface (HMI). Traditionally, there exist communication methods between drivers and pedestrians, such as hand gestures, eye contact, and verbal cues that convey the driver's awareness of the pedestrian's presence. However, with autonomous vehicles, there is a shift in communicative responsibility from the driver to the vehicle itself. It is the vehicle's responsibility to intuitively and clearly indicate its actions to the pedestrian. This research analyzes the factors contributing to AV skepticism and the ways in which the visual aspect of an AV's external HMI can be improved from traditional vehicle designs to accommodate visually impaired pedestrians. This was achieved by performing a study on 27 participants varying in age, gender, and vision impairment type. The study includes a survey and interview portion. Findings indicate that yellow and blue colors are viewed as most welcoming and memorable. It is suggested that these colors be used in the projected light system of the external HMI design. Quantitative results indicate that there is a moderate degree of correlation between the following: the use of cruise control and vision impairment severity (negative correlation), a participant's willingness to ride in an AV and vision impairment levels (positive correlation). The study also found a low degree of correlation in a participants willingness to ride in an AV and their trust in AVs. Based on these findings and under the assumption than an external HMI is needed on the AV, it is recommended that the external HMI contain a light projection system on the vehicle's front body. Based on qualitative results, the light projection system should use a teal color light and project a directional arrow onto the ground when identifying a pedestrian in its path while turning. Intuitive signals such as these help ensure pedestrian safety and promote trust and acceptance of the use of autonomous vehicles on public roads.

Automated vehicles (AVs) have been developing at a rapid pace over the past few years. However, many difficulties still remain for achieving full Level-5 AVs. This signifies that AVs still require human operators to intervene or assist, such as taking over control of AVs or selecting their routes. Therefore, teleoperation can be seen as a subsystem of AVs that can remotely control and supervise a vehicle when needed. However, teleoperated driving conditions are largely different from real-life driving, so remote drivers may experience different driving feedback. In such a situation, therefore, the driving behaviour and performance of remote drivers can also be impacted. The following three studies were conducted to investigate these points. First, a seamless comparative study was carried out between teleoperated and real-life driving. Driving behaviour and performance were compared in two scenarios: slalom and lane following. Significant differences in driving behaviour and performance between them were found in the study. The lane following deviation during teleoperated driving is much greater than that of real-life driving. In addition, remote drivers are more likely to drive slower and make more steering corrections in lane following manoeuvres. Second, three types of steering force feedback (SFF) modes were compared separately in both teleoperated and real-life driving to investigate the effect of SFF on driving experience. The three SFF modes consist of Physical model-based steering force Feedback (PsF), Modular model-based steering force Feedback (MsF), and No steering force Feedback (NsF). The difference between PsF and MsF is that the main forces come from different sources, namely the estimated tyre force and steering motor current, respectively. As expected, the experimental results indicate that NsF would significantly reduce the driving experience in both driving conditions. In addition, remote drivers were found to require reduced steering feedback force and returnability. Finally, the influence of motion-cueing, sound, and vibration feedback on driving behaviour and experience was studied in a virtual teleoperation platform based on the IPG CarMaker environment. The prototype of a teleoperated driving station (TDS) with motion-cueing, sound, and vibration feedback was first developed to study human factors in teleoperated driving. Then, the low-speed disturbance scenario and high-speed dynamic scenario were used separately to investigate how these factors affect driving. Experimental results indicate that sound and vibration feedback can be an important factor in speed control by providing remote drivers a sense of speed. In the low-speed disturbance scenario, motion-cueing feedback can help with road surface perception and improve the driving experience. However, it did not significantly improve driving performance in the high-speed dynamic scenario. The research conducted reveals how driving behaviour may change in teleoperated driving and how different driving feedback influences it. These results could provide guidance for improving teleoperated driving in future research and serve as a guide for policymaking related to teleoperation. / Självkörande fordon (AV) har utvecklats i snabb takt de senaste åren. Men det finns fortfarande många utmaningar innan man når  helt självkörande fordon. Följaktligen krävs fortfarande säkerhetsförare när AV-enheter är i drift och i framtida drift kan AV-enheter stöta på oväntade problem som en människa behöver lösa. Fjärrövervakning kan därför ses som ett  backupsystem, som kan fjärrstyra och övervaka fordonet när det inte fungerar. Men situationen  vid fjärrstyrning är helt annorlunda än för körning i verkligheten, där fjärroperatörer kan uppleva olik återkoppling  och känslor jämfört med körning i verkligheten. Därför kan även fjärroperatörernas körbeteende och prestanda ändras i denna situation. För att undersöka detta utfördes följande tre studier. För det första genomfördes en sömlös jämförelsestudie mellan fjärrstyrning och verklig körning. Körbeteende och prestanda jämfördes i två scenarier, nämligen slalom och linjeföljning. Signifikanta skillnader i körbeteende och prestanda hittades mellan fjärrstyrning och körning i verkligheten. Avvikelse från linjeföljning vid fjärrstyrning är betydligt större än för körning i verkligheten. Dessutom är det mer sannolikt att fjärroperatörer kör i lägre hastigheter och gör fler styrkorrigeringar vid fjärrstyrning.  För det andra jämfördes tre typer av styrkraftsåterkopplingsmodeller (SFF) separat i både fjärrstyrning och verklig körning för att undersöka SFF:s inverkan på körupplevelsen. De tre SFF-modellerna inkluderar en  modell för fysisk återkoppling (PsF), modell för modulär återkoppling (MsF) och ingen återkoppling (NsF). Skillnaden mellan PsF och MsF är att huvudkrafterna härrör från olika källor, nämligen respektive från den matematiskt uppskattade däckkraften och från styrmotorströmmen. Som förväntat tyder resultaten av experimentet på att NsF avsevärt skulle minska körupplevelsen vid både fjärrstyrning och körning i verkligheten. Vid fjärrstyrning upptäcktes också  att operatörer kräver minskad styråterkopplingskraft och returförmåga.  Slutligen studerades påverkan av rörelsestyrning, ljud och vibrationsfeedback på körbeteende och upplevelse. Prototypen av fjärrkontrolltorn  med rörelsestyrning, ljud och vibrationsfeedback utvecklades först för att studera mänskliga faktorer vid fjärrstyrning. Sedan användes ett låghastighetsscenario med störningar och det dynamiska höghastighetsscenariot separat för att undersöka hur dessa faktorer påverkar körning vid fjärrstyrning. Resultaten av experimentet indikerar att ljud- och vibrationsåterkoppling kan vara till stor hjälp för att reglera  hastigheten genom att ge operatörerna medvetenhet om hastighet. I låghastighetsscenariot kan återkoppling  från rörelsestyrning underlätta uppfattningen av vägytan och förbättra körupplevelsen. Den ökade dock inte nämnvärt dynamisk körprestanda  i hög hastighet.  Denna forskning undersöker hur körbeteendet kan förändras vid fjärrstyrning och hur olika återkopplingar till operatör påverka körning på distans. Dessa resultat kan  ge vägledning om hur man kan förbättra fjärrstyrning i framtida forskning och fungera som en referens för skapande av regler kopplat till fjärrövervakning och fjärrstyrning. / <p>QC 230504</p>

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