Examining the impact of driving style on the predictability and responsiveness of the driver: Real-world and simulator analysis

Confronted with the broad range of personalities of drivers on the roads today, in-vehicle technology must be able to function either in spite of or in harmony with each driver's style. Individual drivers act and respond in different manners under various conditions, and many Driver Assistance Systems would benefit from some measure of the driver's likely behaviors in these conditions. In this study we present several measures of driving style and show how they correlate with the predictability and responsiveness of the driver in several experimental conditions. In the first two experiments, one simulator and one real-world, we find that “aggressive” drivers are more consistent in behaviors and significantly more predictable than “non-aggressive” drivers. In the third experiment, however, we find that though “non-aggressive” drivers are less predictable, they are also significantly more receptive of feedback from Driver Assistance Systems. These results could affect the design, effectiveness, and feedback mechanisms of future Driver Assistance Systems.