Automated cooperatively interacting vehicles will change the future of traffic completely. Such vehicles will be capable of planning and carrying out maneuvers based on vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, enabling a safer driving experience. However, this gain of safety will only be effective if drivers use and accept the decisions made by advanced automated technology. Especially when drivers are cognitively distracted, new strategies might be necessary, e.g., by further explaining the reason for a cooperative decision.

In a driving simulator study, we investigated the acceptance of lane change maneuvers in cooperative situations carried out by an automated vehicle on a two-lane German highway. When the automated system detected a potential lane change ahead, it carried out one of three possible maneuvers: accelerate, decelerate, or maintain speed. Participants (N = 20) were asked whether they accepted the system’s behavior either while being cognitively distracted or in an attentive state. Thus, we investigated the influence of a cognitively demanding secondary task and, in addition, further situational characteristics (Scope of action, Criticality for the lane-changing vehicle, Display of intention) on the acceptance towards the system’s behavior. Moreover, participants had to rate the perceived situation’s criticality.

Results underlined the importance of explicit indication of the intention to change lanes. Furthermore, increased cognitive load led to a higher acceptance of the defensive system behavior. This study contributes to the development of a user-centered interface and interaction strategy for cooperative interacting vehicles.

自动化的协作互动车辆将完全改变交通的未来。这样的车辆将能够基于车辆到车辆以及车辆到基础设施的通信来计划和执行机动，从而提供更安全的驾驶体验。但是，只有在驾驶员使用并接受先进的自动化技术做出的决定后，这种安全性提高才有效。尤其是当驾驶员的注意力分散时，可能需要采取新的策略，例如，通过进一步解释合作决策的原因。

在驾驶模拟器研究中，我们调查了在两车道德国高速公路上由自动驾驶汽车进行的合作情况下换道操作的可接受性。当自动化系统检测到前方可能的车道变化时，它执行了以下三种可能的操作之一：加速，减速或保持速度。 询问参与者（N = 20）他们是否在认知分散或处于专心状态时接受了系统的行为。因此，我们研究了认知上要求较高的次要任务的影响，此外，还研究了其他情境特征（作用范围，变道车辆的临界度，意图显示）对系统行为的接受程度。此外，参与者必须对感知到的情况的严重性进行评分。

结果强调了明确表明改变车道意图的重要性。此外，增加的认知负担导致对防御系统行为的更高接受。这项研究有助于开发以用户为中心的界面和用于交互交互车辆的交互策略。