Background
In the collaborative project STADT:up, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, 22 partners from industry and research are developing concepts and pilot applications tailored to user needs for integrated automated driving in urban areas. The focus is on the implementation of new, AI-based methods and their demonstration in automated driving systems, especially in complex traffic situations. Special consideration is given to vulnerable road users, complex intersections and automated merging and obstacle avoidance.
Aims
STADT:up aims at integrated, scalable solutions for future urban mobility: The vehicles must also be able to safely master complex inner-city traffic scenarios. With regard to realistic perspectives of future urban mobility, suitable future concepts are developed and requirements are derived based on the needs of the users.
In the STADT:up project, the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors is conducting research in the sub-project “Human Factors” on the design of interaction between humans and automated vehicles via human-machine interfaces (HMIs). From a human-centred perspective, concepts and HMI prototypes are being developed that demonstrate continuous automated driving in the city, with a focus on “shared control in automated vehicle guidance”, “user-centred concepts of teleoperation” and “cooperation in everyday traffic situations”.
Method
Based on the human-centred design process (DIN EN ISO 9241-210), the topics of shared control, teleoperation and cooperation between differently automated road users are addressed.
Shared Control
In order to enable continuous automated driving at different levels of automation, design solutions for the interaction between driver and vehicle are developed through the implementation of shared control concepts. For this purpose, possible transitions are described on the basis of the subtasks of vehicle guidance, responsibilities of system and driver are assigned and the situation-dependent information needs of drivers are identified. From this, a list of requirements is derived as a basis for the development of HMI concepts for shared control, HMI concepts are iteratively designed, prototypically implemented and evaluated.
Teleoperation
In situations where the driver is not ready to take on the task of driving the vehicle, the technical supervisor will take over (in accordance with the regulation on autonomous driving). For these situations, a task analysis is used to analyse responsibilities, information needs and processes for the interaction between technical supervisor, vehicle and vehicle occupants. HMI concepts are iteratively developed, prototypically implemented and evaluated in subject trials.
Cooperation
Furthermore, xHMI solutions are being developed that promote the willingness of drivers to cooperate when driving at low levels of automation, so that vehicles with higher levels of automation can be easily integrated into the traffic flow. The cooperation concepts complement the holistic interaction concept between the driver or vehicle occupants, other road users and the technical supervision for driving sections with a low automation level. Here, too, the interaction steps in cooperation situations are first derived and then the requirements are defined according to the human-centred design process. Based on this, HMI concepts are developed in an iterative procedure, prototypically implemented and evaluated in tests with test persons.
