Automation Aftereffects: The Influence of Automation Duration, Test Track and Timings

Automation aftereffects (i.e., degraded manual driving performance, delayed responses, and more aggressive avoidance maneuvers) have been found in driving simulator studies. In addition, longer automation duration seems to result in more severe aftereffects, compared to shorter duration. The extent to which these findings generalize to real-world driving is currently unknown. The present study investigated how automation duration affects drivers’ take-over response quality and driving performance in a road-work zone. Seventeen participants followed a lead vehicle on test track. They encountered the road-work zone four times: two times while driving manually, and after a short and a long automation duration. The take-over request was issued before the lead vehicle changed lane to reveal the road-work zone. After both short and long automation durations, all drivers deactivated automation well ahead of the road-work zone. Compared to manual, drivers started their steering maneuvers earlier or at similar times after automation (independently of duration), and none of the drivers crashed. However, slight increases in vehicle speed and accelerations were observed after exposure to automation. In sum, the present study did not observe as large automation aftereffects on the test track as previously found in driving simulator studies. The extent to which these results are a consequence of a more realistic test environment, or due to the duration between the timings for the take-over request and the conflict appearance, is still unknown.