Visual-Motor Coordination in Automated Driving: Effects of Temporal Urgency and Motor Demand on Intervention Behavior

Occupational ApplicationsThis study shows that time-critical automation intervention requests increase drivers' visual-motor demands, reflected in measurable changes in driving performance and posture (i.e., limb engagement and trunk positioning) during transitions of control. These responses indicate that maneuver urgency and takeover timing can place elevated biomechanical and coordination demands on drivers, particularly in work-based automated driving. For ergonomics and human factors practice, the findings underscore the need to design automated transportation systems (e.g., ridesharing services) that align request timing with operators' physical and perceptual capabilities. In occupational settings such as automated shuttles and fleet-supervised vehicles, intervention requests should provide adequate preparation time for visual-motor coordination, limit concurrent steering and braking actions, and support stable trunk and lower-limb postures during control transitions. System designers and fleet operators should treat automated driving as a work system, integrating interface timing, alerts, and control transitions to support safe and sustainable on-the-road performance.