ABSTRACT

Truck platoon driving technology uses vehicle-to-vehicle communication to allow one truck to follow another in an automated fashion. The first vehicle is operated manually, the second vehicle is driven semi-automatically once platoon-mode is activated. In this mode, the driver merely has to monitor traffic. Semi-automated driving in passenger cars has been shown to increase driver sleepiness and reduce situation awareness. The aim of the present study was to gain first insights whether this also applies to semi-automated platoon driving and whether platoon-specific situations pose special visual demands. In a first on-road experiment, ten professional truck drivers experienced a two-vehicle platooning system on a German highway as platoon follower or leader. In addition, all drivers conducted reference drives with a single truck. Driver situation awareness was measured with eye-tracking recordings, perceived sleepiness with subjective ratings. The results showed that the lead vehicle drivers kept their eyes less time on the road ahead as compared to normal truck driving. In particular in situations that required decoupling, drivers (in the lead vehicle as well as in the following vehicle) spent about 40% of fixations on the HMI. That is, situation awareness was reduced, amounting to potentially risky behavior, as the platoon goes blindfolded when both drivers attend to the display. Drivers did not report higher perceived sleepiness in semi-automated platoon drives than in the manual reference drives. Adequate solutions to reduce the time spent looking away from the road are required. Head-up displays should be investigated for this purpose, as they can simplify driver communication and present platoon-specific information while the eyes remain on the road.

摘要

卡车队列驾驶技术使用车对车通信，允许一辆卡车以自动化方式跟随另一辆卡车。第一辆车是手动操作的，第二辆车在队列模式被激活后半自动驾驶。在这种模式下，司机只需要监控交通。乘用车中的半自动驾驶已被证明会增加驾驶员的困倦感并降低情境意识。本研究的目的是首先了解这是否也适用于半自动排驾驶，以及排特定情况是否会提出特殊的视觉要求。在第一次道路试验中，十名专业卡车司机在德国高速公路上体验了两车编队系统，他们作为排跟随者或领导者。此外，所有司机都用一辆卡车进行了参考驾驶。驾驶员的情境意识通过眼动追踪记录、主观评分感知困倦来衡量。结果表明，与正常的卡车驾驶相比，领头车辆的驾驶员将视线停留在前方道路上的时间更少。特别是在需要解耦的情况下，驾驶员（在前车和后车中）将大约 40% 的注意力花在 HMI 上。也就是说，情境意识被降低，相当于潜在的危险行为，因为当两个司机都参加显示器时，排会被蒙住眼睛。与手动参考驱动器相比，半自动队列驱动器中的驾驶员没有报告更高的困倦感。需要有足够的解决方案来减少从道路上移开视线所花费的时间。为此应调查平视显示器，