Designing the human-machine interface for highly automated cars — Challenges, exemplary concepts and studies

During the last years, intensive research has been conducted to make high degrees of automation available in cars. However, driver assistance systems today still need the driver to monitor the system. This will most probably change in near future, as highly automated driving becomes available. With the driver out of the control loop, this driving mode has beneficial aspects for the driver and could improve traffic safety as a high portion of traffic accidents are due to human error. On the other hand, high degrees of automation can have detrimental effects which are well known from other domains like aviation. These effects have led to fatal accidents in the past. The authors investigate various aspects of this topic and the corresponding challenges for the human-machine interface in future cars. In this paper, we present three of our research areas: the take-over process, trust in automation and utilization of drivetime. For each area, we explain theoretical background, current challenges and studies we conducted.