Enhancing driving safety and user experience through unobtrusive and function-specific feedback

Inappropriate trust in the capabilities of automated driving systems can result in misuse and insufficient monitoring behaviour that impedes safe manual driving performance following takeovers. Previous studies indicate that the communication of system uncertainty can promote appropriate use and monitoring by calibrating trust. However, existing approaches require the driver to regularly glance at the instrument cluster to perceive the changes in uncertainty. This may lead to missed uncertainty changes and user disruptions. Furthermore, the benefits of conveying the uncertainty of the different vehicle functions such as lateral and longitudinal control have yet to be explored. This research addresses these gaps by investigating the impact of unobtrusive and function-specific feedback on driving safety and user experience. Transferring knowledge from other disciplines, several different techniques will be assessed in terms of their suitability for conveying uncertainty in a driving context.