Using a driving simulator study to evaluate drivers’ hazard avoidance under different automation levels during day- and night-time conditions

The aim of this study was to examine drivers’ hazard avoidance under two different lighting conditions of the driving environment (daytime and night-time) and varying levels of automation (manual driving and SAE Level 2). Forty-eight participants encountered six different hazardous events during four separate drives of an urban scenario, one for each of the four conditions described above. Data analysis for this study is currently in progress, to examine how hazard avoidance (in terms of lateral and longitudinal control of the vehicle) was influenced by the different conditions. The findings of the study will be discussed in terms of their implication for the design of future driver monitoring systems, especially in automated vehicles, to understand how drivers behave when approaching hazards in a range of visibility conditions, during manual and automated driving.