An Exploratory Study on Intervention Behavior of a Driver Under Cognitive Load in a Simulated Autonomous Driving Scenario

Abstract

This paper explores whether cognitive load affects intervention behavior of a driver in terms of taking control of the driving situation in autonomous driving. A video of a simulated autonomous driving scenario from a driver's perspective including critical situations is presented to the participants. In parallel, extraneous cognitive load is induced by letting participants mentally solve arithmetic problems as a secondary task. Whenever participants feel that they want to intervene and take control of the driving situation, they are required to press the button of a stopwatch. In contrast to expectations of increased impulsive behavior, results reveal an inverse association of cognitive load and counts of interventions paired with increased trust in the autonomous vehicle, but reduced perceived safety and situation awareness. This behavior may be explained with impaired switching of attentional focus and lack of possibility of internalization of the primary task under depletion of cognitive resources. The observed effects are suggested to be accounted for towards shared autonomy concepts in order to promote the design of safe autonomous vehicles and their integration in society.

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