Abstract
This study aims to investigate the influence of general knowledge, which denotes·driving automation’s taxonomy, definitions, function, driver role, and the request to intervene (RtI), on older adults’ takeover performance when using conditionally driving automation (DA), and to clarify the influence of knowledge on drivers’ attitudes toward DA. We introduced two types of DAs: full range and limited range. A driving simulator (DS) experiment was conducted to collect data, including driving behavior in taking over vehicle control and driver’s subjective evaluation of the DA. Data were collected from 36 elderly (mean age = 71.4±4.8 years) and 36 non-elderly (mean age = 40.8±9.5 years) participants. The results showed significant differences between the elderly and non-elderly, such that educating knowledge had a greater influence on the older adults, that is, instructing knowledge to the drivers contributed to a statistical increase in successful takeover rate from 0.66 to 0.80, but no effect was seen on either the response time or the maximum steering angular velocity. Furthermore, more frequent glance behavior of looking forward from a non-driving related task was observed in the educated groups. Self-rating scores of subjective evaluations revealed that older adults who were given the knowledge had a higher level of trust in and expectation from the DA, and more confidence in comprehending system functions. This study demonstrates the necessity of general knowledge instruction to enhance drivers’ positive attitudes toward DA.