Users want self-driving vehicles that sort of drive the way they do

Do passengers want self-driving cars to replicate their personal driving behaviors, or do they impose a different standard on these self-driving vehicles?

Recent studies have shown that people have negative attitudes towards using stand-alone systems because they don’t trust them. Additionally, research shows that a human-centered approach to empowerment is perceived as more trustworthy by users. This begs the question:

It turns out that most people prefer a self-driving car that drives as a less aggressive version of their own driving behaviors, according to researchers from the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University.

The researchers asked 352 participants about their personal driving behaviors such as speeding, changing lanes, distance from a car in front of them, acceleration and deceleration, and passing other vehicles. They also asked them the same questions about their expectations of an autonomous car performing these same tasks.

The aim of the study was to examine trust and mistrust to see if there is a relationship between an individual’s driving behaviors and how they expect an autonomous car to behave. .

For the study, published in the HCI Proceedings in Mobility, Transport and Automotive Systems, researchers asked participants 46 questions to better understand driving behavior and drivers’ expectations of self-driving cars in a variety of locations. driving scenarios.

Ultimately, the researchers believe the information from this study can be used to build driving models for self-driving cars.

The results showed that most people prefer a self-driving car that drives like them, but less aggressively. Participants who said they trusted or rather trusted artificial intelligence, autonomous technologies and self-driving cars expected a car with behaviors similar to their personal driving behaviors.

The researchers also found that the expectation of the attenuated level of aggressiveness of a self-driving car seen in all other participants was relative to the aggressiveness of their personal driving behavior. For example, male drivers were found to be more aggressive drivers than female drivers, and therefore their expectations of a self-driving car were slightly more aggressive.

“We found that current attitudes towards artificial intelligence, autonomous technologies and self-driving cars have an effect on our participants’ expectations of an autonomous car,” said Mehrdad Nojoumian, Ph.D. ., principal author and associate professor. in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of the Privacy, Security and Trust in Autonomy Laboratory, who co-authored the article with Jamie Craig, graduate student and graduate research assistant in the Department of Electrical Engineering and IT.

“The only group that stood out for us was the one that trusted or rather trusted AI, autonomous technologies and self-driving cars. Their driving behavior aggressiveness scores and autonomous driving aggressiveness scores were not significantly different, and they would want a car that matches their personal driving behavior.

“The closer the dynamics of the automated vehicle are to that of a manually driven vehicle, the more likely it is that the user comfort level of the automated vehicle will improve,” said Stella Batalama, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Batalama said the results will be useful in developing certain profiles or parameters for self-driving cars and “overall they can help design one that is perceived as trustworthy by passengers.”

Source: Florida Atlantic University

The subjects
Personal autonomous vehicles