Cooperation partner: Ulm University, AVL Software & Functions GmbH, Human-Factors-Consult GmbH, Humatects GmbH, OFFIS e.V..

SituWare addresses a central obstacle to the introduction of highly automated vehicles (see also BASt) into complex traffic: The required time reserve for a safe transfer of control to distracted Driver. Even medium-term available environment sensors cannot always guarantee large time reserves. SituWare reduces the takeover time by means of a targeted, driver situational awareness
Adapted driver guidance and allows a fluid vehicle behaviour with high user acceptance by adapting the automation to the driver's situation awareness.

Mark examines how transfer processes can be made safer and faster through multimodal attention and information guidance.

The goal of the project SEMULIN (Self-supporting Multimodal Interaction) is the development of a self-supporting, natural and consistent human-machine interface for automated driving vehicles by means of multimodal input and output concepts.

In cooperation with Elektrobit Automotive GmbH (project lead), audEERING GmbH, Eesy Innovation GmbH, Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, Infineon Technologies AG, University of Ulm, and the associated partner Mercedes-Benz AG, novel interaction concepts are developed considering multimodal input and output concepts.

Mark investigates how previous interaction takes place in vehicles and how it can be improved by multimodal interaction.

People with vision impairments (VIP) are among the most vulnerable road users in traffic. Autonomous vehicles are believed to reduce accidents but still demand some form of external communication signaling relevant information to pedestrians. Recent research on the design of vehicle-pedestrian communication (VPC) focuses strongly on concepts for a non-disabled population. Our work presents an inclusive user-centered design for VPC, beneficial for both vision impaired and seeing pedestrians. We conducted a workshop with VIP (N=6), discussing current issues in road traffic and comparing communication concepts proposed by literature...

Read more...

Master Theses

• Investigations on the Use of Augmented Reality for Information Visualization in Connected Automated Driving
• Exploring the Social Context of Collaborative Driving
• Optimizing Localization of Sound for the Hearing Impaired in Traffic with AVs
• SwiVR-Car-Seat: Utilizing a Motorized Swivel Seat to Explore Effects of Vehicle Motion on Interaction Quality in Virtual Reality Automated Driving
• User-Centric Exploration of In-Car Augmented Reality UI Concepts for See-Through Head-Mounted Displays

Bachelor Theses

• Informationsbedürfnisse in autonomen Fahrzeugen und Auswirkung der Visualisierung der Fußgängerintention auf Vertrauen und kognitive Belastung
• External Communication of Heavy Machinery (or Autonomous Trucks) on Construction Sites
• Effect of Displaying Semantic Segmentation on Trust, Situation Awareness and Cognitive Load
• Increasing Pedestrian Safety Using External Communication of Autonomous Vehicles for Signalling Hazards
• Auswirkung der Visualisierung der Wahrnehmung Autonomer Fahrzeuge in Kritischen Verkehrssituationen auf Vertrauen und Kognitive Belastung
• Investigating the Effects of Prosocial External Communication of Autonomous Vehicles
• Auswirkungen von Abstraktionsebenen in der Informationsvisualisierung auf Situationsbewusstsein, Kognitive Belastung und Benutzerfreundlichkeit bei Kontrollübernahme-Aufforderungen in Hochautomatisierten Fahrzeugen
• Effects of Scene Detection, Scene Prediction, and Maneuver Planning Visualizations on Trust, Situation Awareness, and Cognitive Load in Highly Automated Vehicles
• Realistic Scenarios for the Communication between Autonomous Vehicle and Pedestrians
• Investigating the Effects of External Communication and Automation Behavior on Manual Drivers
• Mode Confusion of External Communication