FMCSA plans study of automated driving systems
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is planning a study to evaluate how drivers engage in Levels 2 and 3 automated driving system-equipped commercial motor vehicles.
The study is titled “Human Factors Considerations in Commercial Motor Vehicle Automated Driving Systems.”
FMCSA says the study is intended to examine the effect of drivers being engaged in nondriving secondary tasks, transfer of control, and training on driver behavior in automated driving system-equipped commercial motor vehicles.
About 100 CMV drivers are expected to participate in the study, 50 for each level being examined. The study includes data collection from a series of questionnaires and a driving simulator-focused experiment.
Levels 2 and 3 automated driving
In the Society of Automotive Engineers levels chart for automated driving systems, in Level 2 a driver is in the driver’s seat, supervising steering, braking and acceleration though the driver’s feet are off the pedals and the driver is not steering. In Level 3, drivers are not driving unless the vehicle makes that demand.
The study is intended to evaluate driver readiness to assume control in Level 2 and Level 3 tech-quipped commercial vehicles.
“Lower levels of automated driving system-equipped CMVs present an environment that is ripe for overreliance,” FMCSA wrote.
The agency goes on to explain that a Level 2 vehicle supports the driver but the operator is responsible for driving at times.
With a Level 3-equipped vehicle, the driver takes a more supervisory role. However, “engagement in nondriving secondary tasks may prevent the driver from maintaining situational awareness of the driving environment.”
There are three primary goals with this automated driving system study:
- Determine the effect of distraction on commercial vehicle drivers of L2 vehicles.
- Determine the effect of transfer of control on CMV drivers in L3 vehicles
- Develop and evaluate a training program to decrease the levels of distraction that were identified in commercial vehicle drivers in L2 vehicles and designed to improve the problems with the transfer of control that were identified in L3 vehicles. LL
Read more about autonomous vehicle laws around the country.