Industrially, it's been known for ages that if you have an operator controlling too many things, they get overwhelmed and start missing signals that should require immediate action, in the fluster of doing repetitive stuff, or information overload leading to poor processing.
It's also know that removing the operator too far from the process means that if a crisis occurs, it will take them time to get into the zone, work out what needs doing and intervene.
The bit in the middle, between becoming aware of the problem (late), then assessing and initiating proper response is often the period that disaster occurs in.
Once you reach a certain level of automation, you have to go the full nine yards, and dial the operator out of too complex operations...they are either driving it manually, or checking alarms.
Same for operators of motor vehicles...
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/inde...tion-times.html
Quote:
A recent study from psychological scientists Mark Vollrath, Susanne Schleicher, and Christhard Gelau found that cruise control and ACC systems can have both positive and negative effects on driving safety.
Previous research has shown some benefits to using cruise control systems, but there may also be some increased risks. Several studies have found that drivers using cruise control systems are more likely to obey speed limits. However, a 2013 study from the University of Strasbourg found that drivers using cruise control reported increased rates of drowsiness while driving. Thus, Vollrath and colleagues hypothesized that when drivers were using cruise control or ACC systems, they might speed less often, but would also be more distractible and less attentive to their surroundings.
The researchers used a driving simulator to see how 21 participants would adapt to using cruise control and ACC in a variety of conditions.
Participants were instructed to use the cruise control systems as often as possible while driving safely through a course that included realistic challenges, such as traffic jams, steep curves, speed limit variations, and inclement weather.
As predicted, drivers were much less likely to speed when they were using cruise control and ACC. When they were using cruise control or ACC, drivers tended to maintain speed about 5-10 km/h slower than when they were driving manually.
However, cruise control and ACC also seemed to slow drivers’ reaction times. Drivers took around 5 seconds longer to react when they needed to slow down and maneuver around obstacles like sharp curves when they were using cruise control or ACC.
There was also evidence that drivers might be relying on the automatic system to detect other cars or obstacles better than they themselves could. For example, drivers drove much faster when they encountered foggy conditions when they were supported by ACC.
But, the researchers surmise that when drivers don’t have to continuously watch and adjust the speed of the car they may become less attentive to their surroundings.
“As drivers rely on the ACC system they do not monitor the surrounding as carefully and might thus lose some of their situation awareness,” Vollrath, Schleicher, and Gelau write in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention.
The step between manually operated cars and autonomous vehicles can't be a gradual slide to one side...it needs to remove driver involvement, and the need for the "driver" to be able to be situationally aware at all times, and be ale to power up and take over in mere seconds.
It's also know that removing the operator too far from the process means that if a crisis occurs, it will take them time to get into the zone, work out what needs doing and intervene.
The bit in the middle, between becoming aware of the problem (late), then assessing and initiating proper response is often the period that disaster occurs in.
Once you reach a certain level of automation, you have to go the full nine yards, and dial the operator out of too complex operations...they are either driving it manually, or checking alarms.
Same for operators of motor vehicles...
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/inde...tion-times.html
Quote:
A recent study from psychological scientists Mark Vollrath, Susanne Schleicher, and Christhard Gelau found that cruise control and ACC systems can have both positive and negative effects on driving safety.
Previous research has shown some benefits to using cruise control systems, but there may also be some increased risks. Several studies have found that drivers using cruise control systems are more likely to obey speed limits. However, a 2013 study from the University of Strasbourg found that drivers using cruise control reported increased rates of drowsiness while driving. Thus, Vollrath and colleagues hypothesized that when drivers were using cruise control or ACC systems, they might speed less often, but would also be more distractible and less attentive to their surroundings.
The researchers used a driving simulator to see how 21 participants would adapt to using cruise control and ACC in a variety of conditions.
Participants were instructed to use the cruise control systems as often as possible while driving safely through a course that included realistic challenges, such as traffic jams, steep curves, speed limit variations, and inclement weather.
As predicted, drivers were much less likely to speed when they were using cruise control and ACC. When they were using cruise control or ACC, drivers tended to maintain speed about 5-10 km/h slower than when they were driving manually.
However, cruise control and ACC also seemed to slow drivers’ reaction times. Drivers took around 5 seconds longer to react when they needed to slow down and maneuver around obstacles like sharp curves when they were using cruise control or ACC.
There was also evidence that drivers might be relying on the automatic system to detect other cars or obstacles better than they themselves could. For example, drivers drove much faster when they encountered foggy conditions when they were supported by ACC.
But, the researchers surmise that when drivers don’t have to continuously watch and adjust the speed of the car they may become less attentive to their surroundings.
“As drivers rely on the ACC system they do not monitor the surrounding as carefully and might thus lose some of their situation awareness,” Vollrath, Schleicher, and Gelau write in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention.
The step between manually operated cars and autonomous vehicles can't be a gradual slide to one side...it needs to remove driver involvement, and the need for the "driver" to be able to be situationally aware at all times, and be ale to power up and take over in mere seconds.
