Scipedia: Collection of closed conferences in transport research

How Visual Cues on Steering Wheel Improve Users’ Trust, Experience, and Acceptance in Automated Vehicles

Scipedia content — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 09:39:47 +0100

With the introduction of ADAS systems and vehicle automation, an interface informing the driver of the automation state is required. This study evaluates the suitability of a visual interface comprising up to 64 LEDs on the steering wheel perimeter; it displays continuous visual feedback about the automation state—including notifications of an unscheduled hand-over due to sudden system failure. Three HMI (Human Machine Interface) designs were evaluated: two versions with visual cues on the steering wheel and one without (baseline). We implemented the designs in a driving simulator and compared the subjective responses of 38 participants to questionnaires measuring user experience, trust, and acceptance. The designs with visual cues improved the participants’ user experience, as well as their trust in, and acceptance of, automated vehicles. Moreover, both designs were well perceived by participants.

Determining Infrastructure- and Traffic Factors that Increase the Perceived Complexity of Driving Situations

Scipedia content — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 09:48:51 +0100

When designing experimental studies in the driving domain, an important decision is which driving scenarios to include. It is proposed that HMI need to be adaptive to the complexity of the driving situation, in order to avoid overloading the driver. To further study adaptive HMI a comprehensive list of factors that determine the perceived complexity of a driving situation is required, yet absent. In this, infrastructure- and traffic characteristics that may influence the perceived complexity of a driving situation were collected from literature. Next, four sets of driving scenarios of varying complexities were created and validated in an online survey. The results of this study include: 1) a list of infrastructure- and traffic characteristics that influence the overall complexity of a driving situation, and 2) validated scenarios of varying complexities. These outcomes help researchers and designers in setting up future driving studies.

An Event-Driven Multi Agent System for Scalable Traffic Optimization

Scipedia content — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 09:57:18 +0100

Global demand for mobility will grow from 44 trillion to 122 trillion passenger-kilometres by 2050, and freight demand will triple in that time increasing traffic emissions by 60%. With current innovation and policy measures we are ‘on course for a 3.2 \\(^{\\circ }\\)C temperature rise’, according to the 2019 UN Emissions Gap Report. Nothing short of revolutionary is required to address this emergency. However, there is hope: shared mobility and widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles could cut \\(\\mathrm {CO}_2\\) emissions by 73% and congestion by 24% if managed by appropriate policies. This paper presents a vision and a concept for future distributed management systems for complex multi-modal transport networks that exploit Multi Agent Systems (MAS) to support individual actors based on data collected from heterogeneous sources like vehicles, freight items, infrastructures, Global Positioning Systems (GPS); and simulations of the behaviour of the many different actors involved in the transport system. Event driven approaches are envisioned to react and respond to real-time events efficiently. The main objective is to identify the best optimization strategies to reduce traffic emissions and maximize the use of the public infrastructures and shared mobility. Motivations, expected impacts, and challenges are also discussed.

The impact of a new mid-range aircraft with advanced technologies on air traffic emissions and climate

Scipedia content — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 10:05:54 +0100

viation is currently undoubtedly facing the deepest crisis ever. However, the industry is expected to return to its long-term growth trend with or without a certain offset from its historic trend line. Thus, the greening of air transport remains an important challenge, and technological and operational solutions need to be found as soon as possible. This includes the development of aircraft which make use of advanced technologies with improved environmental performance, as investigated in DLR’s project ATLAs. In this study we present research results on emission changes of a new advanced technology mid-range aircraft on fleet and global level and the corresponding implications on climate. The technologies under investigation are CO2-managed cabin, hybrid laminar flow control as well as functional-driven moveables for load alleviation. The approach combines the calculation of emission inventories for various technology combinations with an established climate response model. The results indicate that the implementation of the three mentioned technologies in a new mid-range aircraft with an expected Entry into Sevice in 2028 has the potential to reduce the fuel consumption in a representative airline sub-fleet by up to 7% and to reduce NOx emissions by even up to 12%, depending on how the technologies are combined. As a consequence, the climate impact can be reduced by up to 7.7%, taking the effects from CO2, H2 O, NOx and contrail cirrus into account.

Determining Infrastructure- and Traffic Factors That Increase the Perceived Complexity of Driving Situations

Scipedia content — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 10:07:10 +0100

The effects of explicit intention communication, conspicuous sensors, and pedestrian attitude in interactions with automated vehicles

Scipedia content — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 10:15:35 +0100

In this paper, we investigate the effect of an external human- machine interface (eHMI) and a conspicuous external vehicle appearance due to visible sensors on pedestrian interactions with automated vehicles (AVs). Recent research shows that AVs may need to explicitly communicate with the environ- ment due to the absence of a driver. Furthermore, in interac- tion situations, an AV that looks different and conspicuous owing to an extensive sensor system may potentially lead to hesitation stemming from mistrust in automation. Thus, we evaluated in a virtual reality study how pedestrian attitude, the presence/absence of an eHMI, and a conspicuous sensor system affect their willingness to cross the road. Results rec- ommend the use of an eHMI. A conspicuous appearance of automated-driving capability had no effect for the sample as a whole, although it led to more efficient crossing decisions for those with a more negative attitude towards AVs. Our findings contribute towards the effective design of future AV interfaces.

Towards E-mobility: Strengths and Weaknesses of Electric Vehicles

Scipedia content — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 10:23:49 +0100

One of the greatest environmental challenges worldwide is mobility. In future, increasingly sustainable solutions will be proposed and incentivized and the new technologies, like electric mobility, could (positive) influence mobility performances/habits. The paper aims at critically analyze weaknesses, strengths and application fields of the electric mobility in Italy. Specifically, the electric vehicle today has high production costs, low autonomy and not “zero” environmental impacts deriving from the production, motion and recycling of the vehicle. However, the “local emissions” are null and this pone this technology useful for urban mobility, where high population density often occurs. Furthermore, e-mobility is useful within the new forms of mobility (e.g. MaaS - mobility as a service) where micro mobility, shared mobility, urban bus fleet, freight distribution and an overall higher willingness to pay for users/operators could emphasize the strengths of e-mobility, reducing its weaknesses.

Mitigation potential of environmental optimized aircraft trajectories: How to perform environmental optimization of aircraft trajectories impact in Europe

Scipedia content — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 09:44:23 +0100

A traffic management as currently under development by the Single European Sky ATM Research program SESAR has an important role to play in reducing environmental impact of aviation by means of green trajectories, in addition to the improvements to be derived from new aircraft and engine technologies. A comprehensive modelling approach is presented which allows identifying aircraft trajectories having a lower environmental impact compared to the fuel optimal solution. Algorithmic environmental change functions are introduced which allow determining impact of aircraft emission at a given position and time from standard meteorological forecast parameters. A case study for three city-pairs is presented using reanalysis meteorological data. Mitigation potential of environmentally optimized trajectory options is analyzed, using a set of different climate impact metrics identifying robust routing options. This study presents results for a multi-criteria environmental assessment of aircraft trajectories relying on an advanced MET service as developed within the Exploratory Research Project ATM4E (SESAR2020). This framework allows studying and characterizing changes in traffic flows due to environmental optimization, as well as studying trade-offs between distinct strategic measures.

Cooperative Automated Driving for managing Transition Areas and the Operational Design Domain (ODD)

Scipedia content — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 11:39:46 +0100

When cooperative automated vehicles (CAVs) emerge on urban roads, there will be areas and situations where all levels of automation can be granted, and others where highly automated driving will not be allowed or is not feasible. Complex environments or temporary road configurations are examples of situations leading to takeover requests and are referred to as 'Transition Areas'. Such situations are assumed to cause negative impacts on traffic safety and efficiency, in particular with mixed traffic fleets. The TransAID project is developing a digital infrastructure and dedicated traffic management strategies to assist CAVs at transition areas, and preserve safe and smooth traffic flow. This paper explains the relevance of transition areas and the link to the operational design domain (ODD) of automated vehicles. By combining results from different projects with findings from stakeholder consultation workshops, ODD is discussed in detail and a conceptual structure to guide the discussion is provided.