Aug 17, 2022
On the 9th of August, tests on the use of advanced driver assistance systems were carried out on the Digitrans test track in St. Valentin. The aim was to find out how adept and safe these systems actually are.
Driving assistance systems can make a significant contribution to road safety. In order to be able to utilise this potential, the functions and limitations of the systems must be known to the drivers. As part of the research project "Traffic Safety and Automated Mobility M7174", practical tests were conducted by AustriaTech in cooperation with the Graz University of Technology and the Factum research institute. The project, which is carried out by AustriaTech on behalf of the Austrian Road Safety Fund (VSF) established in the Ministry of Climate Action (BMK), comprises the implementation of measures 7.1 and 7.4 from the BMK's Action Programme on Automated Mobility (2019-2022).
On the test track of Digitrans in St. Valentin, 20 test persons tested the comprehensibility, operation and use of the systems within the framework of various driving tests and with different vehicle models. The aim was to investigate the requirements for human-machine interaction (HMI) from the user's point of view in the context of road safety. All driving tests focused on the human application and understanding of the advanced driver assistance systems.
A total of three test scenarios were carried out: Test scenarios for longitudinal guidance, test scenarios for lateral guidance and test scenarios for navigation systems in general. Before going out on the test track, however, all test persons received a detailed briefing and were able to become familiar with the vehicles in advance. During the driving tests on longitudinal guidance assistance, the handling of the "Adaptive Cruise Control" and the "Intelligent Speed Assistant" was examined. This included a Stop & Go traffic jam simulation, a cut-in test and a cut-out test - i.e. lane change manoeuvres - each using the Adaptive Cruise Control. The driving tests for the lateral guidance assistance included the investigation of the use of the "Emergency Lane Keeping Assistant" and the "Lane Centering Assist". Both scenarios were tested when driving through a bend. In addition, test drives were also carried out on the comprehensibility and use of different human-machine interfaces (classic and with head-up display) using navigation systems.
"The tests have shown that there are different challenges in using the systems. The interaction with the systems is not always comprehensible and in some cases the operation of the systems tempts the driver to look at the displays instead of the road while driving," says Dr. Aggelos Soteropoulos, project manager of the project at AustriaTech, about his first impression. The findings will be evaluated in the next few months and published in the course of the project report and will be taken into account in future driver education, information and communication concepts. After all, the ultimate goal is to ensure that advanced driver assistance systems are not only present in vehicles, but are also used (correctly) in order to be able to fully make use of their potential for road safety. The conduction of such tests provides an important basis for the aspects on which special focus should and must be placed in this context in driver education, information and communication concepts in light of increasing automation in road traffic.
