Designing for Enhancing Situational Awareness of Semi-Autonomous Driving Vehicles

Autonomous driving technology is evolving quickly, and self-driving cars are fast becoming a reality. In the level 2 autonomous driving stage, the system will take full control of the vehicle. The driver must monitor the driving and be prepared to immediately intervene at any time if the automated system fails to respond properly. As a result, the vehicle must be able to share its interpretation of the situation with the driver. In previous research, ambient light was used to delivering driving information. However, most of the studies were conducted on driving simulators. We designed a screen based interface combined with ambient light, which was implemented into a semi-autonomous driving vehicle. Based on this high-fidelity prototype, systematic tests can be conducted for verifying the usability of enhancing drivers' situational awareness by ambient light.