1. Situation awareness in remote vehicle operators
- Author
-
Mutzenich, Clare, Dalton, Polly, Durant, Szonya, and Helman, Shaun
- Subjects
situation awareness ,automated ,autonomous vehicles ,eye tracking ,VR ,Workload ,presence - Abstract
In the future, as highly automated vehicles become more prevalent, a remote operator (RO) may be called upon if a problem arises that prevents a vehicle from navigating independently to its destination. ROs will inevitably have reduced situation awareness (SA) in comparison with an invehicle operator. This thesis examines how long is required for an RO to build up SA and whether SA can be improved by changes to the mode of presentation or the provision of certain types of additional information from the remote scene. Paper 1 presents the state of the art at the start of thesis with regards to the scope of an RO. Paper 2 adopts a qualitative methodology to develop a taxonomy capturing the key elements of people's reported SA for videos of driving situations. Paper 3 develops and validates a novel measure of SA in remote contexts which possesses four underlying constructs: spatial and environmental awareness, anticipatory hazards, dynamic driving actions and other road users. Paper 4 investigates whether the presence or absence of a rear-view feed and/or audio feedback is helpful during the construction of SA in remote contexts, finding worse SA performance in the presence of the rear-view feed. Paper 5 compares two formats of presentation of 360° videos (head mounted display (HMD) and screen-based) with eye tracking analysis. Performance on a choice reaction task is faster and more accurate when information is presented in HMD format and there are differences in eye movements in different parts of driving videos depending on presentation format. Paper 6 is an applied research collaboration examining the effect of type of screen presentation (flat monitor/curved monitor) on RO SA for forklift operation. Qualitative findings indicate that the potential to augment visual perception though variable video feeds is a strength in using remote operation in warehouse logistics.
- Published
- 2022