Designing take over scenarios for automated driving

Highly automated driving allows the driver to temporarily turn away from the driving task, meaning he or she does not have to monitor the system. This leads to the challenge of getting the driver back into the loop, if the automation reaches a system boundary. This study investigates, whether augmented reality information can positively influence the take over process. Therefore we evaluated two augmented reality concepts. The concept “AR red” displays a corridor on the road to be avoided by the driver in a take over scenario. The concept “AR green” suggests a corridor the driver can safely steer through. Results indicate that the type of augmented reality information does not influence take over times, but considerably affects reaction type. Visual inspection revealed higher consistency in driving trajectories for participants following the proposed corridor of “AR green” concept as compared to trajectories of drivers confronted with the restricted zone of “AR red”.