Effects of driving behavior on human thermal perception and electroencephalogram in vehicles

Intelligent cabin thermal perception interaction systems affect the comfort, safety, acceptance, and range of intelligent, connected automated vehicles. However, existing thermal comfort evaluation methods in vehicles do not investigate the effects of driving behavior on driver and passenger thermal perception and the differences in their physiological signals correlating with thermal perception. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of assessing driver and passenger thermal perception based on EEG signals under outdoor driving conditions and analyzed the effects of driving behavior on human thermal perception and EEG. The results show that the differences in EEG of passengers in different thermal sensation states are larger than those of drivers, and the high-frequency β and γ relative power can be used to distinguish human thermal comfort. EEG channels in the frontal, parieto-occipital and left temporal lobe regions are sensitive to thermal perception. The physiological characteristics of drivers and passengers and their patterns of change in different thermal perception states differed significantly, while subjective thermal perception did not differ significantly, so the thermal comfort evaluation criteria for drivers and passengers should be considered separately. Future research will explore the effects of driving behavior on human thermal perception and EEG when the automobile passenger compartment is warming up in winter, and then predict human thermal perception in vehicle throughout the year. This research contributes to the theoretical basis for EEG-based assessment of human thermal perception in vehicles and enhances human-vehicle thermal perception interactions.